


Before You Lay in Ashes

by Platypus4ever



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Blackmail (sort of), Blood Drinking, Blood Play, Cannibalism, Dark!Beverly, Deal with the Devil (Hannibal), Kidnapping and confinment, Manipulation, Mention of Gore, Mind Games, Multi, Murder, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Psychological Torture, Sexual Tension, Threesome, Torture through time loss, dark!Hannibal, dark!Will
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-05-25 21:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6210874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Platypus4ever/pseuds/Platypus4ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of killing Beverly, Hannibal kidnaps her and fakes her death. From his cell, Will is the only one who understood that she is alive but no one listens to him. They’re both ready to do anything to save each other.</p><p>Chapter 1 and 2 updated for more clarity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revelation, Beverly

**Author's Note:**

> The story starts right after episode 2x04. To sum it up for those who don't remember it completely, at the end of the episode Will understood that the Copycat and the Riper are the same person, and that Hannibal is a cannibal. Beverly decides to investigate against his advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my mother tongue, so if you notice mistakes, I'll be glad to know.

Beverly had done some things wrong lately.

When Will started to feel bad, she didn’t realise how alarming it really was. They didn’t have much time for each other lately. She should have been smarter. When Will told Beverly that Hannibal Lecter was the real killer, she didn’t believe him, at least not soon enough. She regretted that now. More of all, she never thought that investigating on Lecter could be really dangerous. She should have. She didn’t go to Crawford immediately. How wrong she had been.

She should have known better because she and Will were dating since two years now. At least the only thing she got right since the beginning was Will’s innocence, but that was easy.

Even when they told her he spit Abigail’s ear, she didn’t believe he killed her. She wasn’t with him the morning it happened; she had slept in her own flat because she had work late and it was closer than Will’s home. She regretted that, she wished she had been with him. In spite of the fact she worked with the FBI, Bev had been taken in custody, being Will’s girlfriend, she was also suspected. They kept her forty-eight hours before releasing her because no evidences against her were found and she had alibis for the murders. She tried to tell them that Will was not a murderer, they didn’t listen.

Being in a relationship with him, they didn’t allow her to investigate on Abigail and Graham, she was too partial. Yet, she had investigated on her own discreetly, her job in the FBI had been threatened after Will’s arrest, but once it had been established that she took no part in the killings, Jack did his best so she could continue to work with them.

When she finally believed Will about Lecter, she thought no one would believe her, she knew Jack and the others wouldn’t move if she didn’t have a proof. That’s why she didn’t tell anyone and went in the cannibal’s home alone. She found what she needed, oh yes, but she paid the price.

Now, Beverly was lying on a mattress in what seemed to be a basement, not the one in Doctor Lecter’s house, this one was smaller. She didn’t know since how long she had been here, maybe three hours, maybe three days, she wasn’t sure. It was dark, only a feeble light was lightening the room, and one of her wrist was chained to a water pipe. She was feeling strangely weak and a little nauseous, she was thirsty and a little hungry and her head hurt. But more of all, she was extremely scared.

She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know what Lecter would do to her, she didn’t know if her colleagues were looking for her. The only things she knew were that Will was right, Hannibal was the Chesapeake Ripper, there was no copycat, and she was his prisoner. She had briefly seen him while being semi-conscious, towering above her. Would he kill her too? Would he eat her? Would she see Will again? She had looked at herself the best she could, she wasn’t missing a limp obviously, she had her clothes on, and only her shoes had been removed.

‘ _A way to stop me from escaping?_ ’

Except for her weakened state, she was quite okay, but she knew she wouldn’t remain this way. Hannibal had killed people in horrid way, he had impaled them, mutilated them before eating them...What would happen to her?

She remembered her last conversation with Will, when she started to believe he was right, he told her Hannibal was keeping trophies to eat them. She didn’t want to believe it at first, because Hannibal invited her as well as Will for dinner at occasions, she couldn’t believe she could have eat...Yet now she couldn’t deny anymore. A cannibal...She was the prisoner of a cannibal.

Tears leaked from her eyes, she should have been much more cautious when she entered Hannibal’s house, she should have take her bloody proof with her and get away as fast as she could, instead of exploring. She had already been in dangerous situation, but never alone, other agents were always here, she wasn’t prepared at all for what was happening to her right now.

“I’m going to die...”she said softly to herself.

She looked at her surrounding; there weren’t many things, just a lamp light, a wooden table on which there was blood, some shelf with tools and bottles of wine, a toilet and a sink near her bed but which she couldn’t reach and an electricity generator. Except for the blood on the table this looked like a normal basement.

She thought of Abigail, she hadn’t interacted with her as much as Will but she had been fond of her and she knew it was reciprocate, her death had been terrible news, coped with Will’s custody. She was also worried for him. Would he rot in the hell they put him in? When she thought about what happened, only two month ago...She tightened her lips and cried. _It_ would never happen.

The door opened and Beverly cringed. She did an effort to prop herself on her elbow, watching in terror as the doctor descended the stairs. She tried to keep a neutral expression, but it was useless, Hannibal would see she cried. He was going down slowly, and Beverly wondered if this was a way to make her even more scared with anticipation. After what seemed like a really long time, he was finally facing her.

Hannibal had this composed face of his, she never paid much attention to that, but now it was like looking at the Devil’s face, it was so cold, so indifferent, just looking at you with mere curiosity. It was so morbid, as if a distressed person was only some kind of curious object. She wondered how she never understood before that this face wasn’t the one of a calm man, but a true psychopath’s one. He smiled slightly and it took Beverly all her strength not to burst into tears again, this smile was tale-telling, promising a lot of suffering.

“Good evening Beverly.”

She didn’t say anything, waiting for him to speak. He titled his head slightly

“That’s very rude of you not to answer me. You already broke into my house, which was extremely inconsiderate and intrusive, and now you are not even courteous enough to answer me.”

“I...What am I doing here?”

He smiled almost softly but there was something in his eyes which was anything but soft.

“You are expiating...and in time you will be learning.”

Expiating? Learning? She wished she had Will’s mind, he would know what was happening. Yet even without Will’s mind she had an idea of what it could mean: a slow and painful death. She looked right in his eyes and finally asked the question that was plaguing her mind.

“Are you going to kill me?”

The answer seemed pretty obvious to her, that’s why she was astonished at Hannibal’s answer.

“That’s would be a big waste, Miss Katz. You won’t die, or maybe just a little in the inside.”

She was confused for a short moment, if he wasn’t going to kill her, what did he want? She then saw him taking out a knife from his vest. In spite of what he said earlier, her whole body froze with panic, and she tried to back away but in her weakened state she didn’t manage to do anything but slip and fell on her back. Lecter put a hand around her throat, keeping her down. He didn’t apply a lot of pressure but it was enough to scare her. Then, with an elegant movement of his wrist, he brought the knife to her cheek.

She tensed and froze; he said he wouldn’t kill, would he cut a limb from her?  She couldn’t move, she knew that she would get cut otherwise, accidently or intentionally. Beverly was trembling but otherwise she managed to remain still, she took a deep breath in order to do so. Lecter was observing her with curious eyes. He let the knife slip on her skin without cutting, trailing it to her neck, Beverly made a big effort not to move, her head was spinning with fear, it was almost as if she could feel the knife thrusting in her skin while it was barely caressing it. Hannibal moved the knife slowly, very slowly, Beverly was sure that he was enjoying it, that he knew what she was feeling and he loved it.

“You have a pretty neck, people rarely pay attention to that but a gracious neck can be real source of beauty. In Japan, an exposed neck is considered as very erotic, I think so too...It would be sad to damage yours.”

He lowered the knife, still so slow, agonizingly slow, until it went to her shoulder. It was trailed down to her arm and finally the knife stopped above her wrist. The hand on her neck fled from her neck to pin her arm down, and Bev understood that he had chosen his spot.

“Since you have been quite intrusive, I think I will be a little too. This is one of the few uses you’ll be to me.”

With that he made a cut on her arm, not too deep, but enough to draw out blood. She winced and stopped herself from yelling out; she didn’t want him to see her pain. She looked at her arm and somehow panicked when she saw the cut, it wasn’t that big, she wouldn’t die because of it, but it was made by Hannibal, and this was definitely frightening. He seemed fascinated by the sight of her blood, then he raised Beverly’s arm to his mouth.

She tried to resist this time, to pull away her arm, but he was strong and he had no problem restraining the weakened woman. He pressed his lips against the cut and began to suck out the blood from her. She felt nauseous again, it was absolutely disgusting, and this man was just a beast, some kind of shark which loved the taste of blood. Those lips wet with saliva and bloods were like leeches on her skin. She felt tears coming again as she looked right at the cannibal, truly realising the horror of what he was doing.

The worse was maybe this air of rapture on his face, he seemed to love that. Beverly was feeling violated right now, it was just so...It was as if she was just a piece of meat, a thing to enjoy.

When he was finally done, he gave a final lap to her wound and left the room. Beverly didn’t move at all, her eyes wet, but no tears falling. This was a nightmare; she never thought something so horrible would ever happen to her. She thought about her team and this made her even sadder. Would they find her? Would they know she was here? A horrid thought sneaked into her mind: they wouldn’t. They were sure Hannibal was a righteous man; the only one who knew the truth was a man who was accused of being a crazy murderer: Will Graham, her fiancé, the man who asked her in marriage only two month ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you can see, in this fic, Will and Beverly know each other since long and are engaged, which will have somehow its importance in the course of the story. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think, reviews are always appreciated!


	2. Fire and Blood, Will

_As the sun was going down, Beverly and Will were walking in a park, talking and laughing. They were in a relationship since a long time, since two years now, and they were planning to live together, something they delayed many times, for many reasons. They needed to find a new house in Wolf Trap, Beverly liked to spend time in Will’s house, in fact she was very often there, but living here all the time would have been too hard. She wouldn’t be able to bear the isolation of the farm and Will wouldn’t be able to live in her flat in Baltimore. So they decided they would find a house in Wolf Trap, which was a small town and would fit both of them. Yet finding the right house wasn’t an easy task._

_The amount of work they both had wasn’t easing things up, plus Bev had needed some times to be used to the dogs. She was growing fond of the idea of having those with Will, now that she was spending more time in his house than hers. At first she had been reluctant to live with so many dogs, but she never asked Will to abandon them. He knew it was because she could never do such a thing to an animal. And he knew she didn’t leave because she loved him. Instead, she adapted herself to that and today she was actually very fond of them, and they liked her as well._

_“When we find our new house, you’ll have to let me ornate it” Beverly said, “because decorating a room is not one of your quality I fear.”_

_“Oh come on, I know. I neglected some part of the house, but it’s not that bad.”_

_“Oh yes, I remember the first time I entered your home, it was really not appealing!”_

_“And you should know I actually tidied it up before you came, if I didn’t, you would have probably run away!”_

_They both laughed at that, indeed, Will had made efforts to have a cleaner and more decent place when Bev came in his life. Not that the house was a total waste, but he wasn’t really taking care of it that well. Though it could be quite bothersome at first, he was soon happy that he made those changes; he was feeling better at home now. Yet he was eager to live with her, even if it meant being in town and having neighbours, but he was ready to make the effort for her, he didn’t want to force her to isolate herself, she wouldn’t bear it. Now that they were about to live together, he knew there was no reason to wait anymore._

_“Bev, there is something I have to tell you...”_

_He stopped and she mimicked him, seeing that he looked suddenly serious. They were standing beside a lovely small pond; the atmosphere was actually pretty romantic with the dawn. He knew it was the perfect setting, he took her hands and smiled at her, he was so nervous, it was the moment of truth._

_“You are...I never felt this way toward anyone. And...I don’t think I will ever feel that for anyone else.”_

_He took a little velvet box out of this pocket and her breathing stopped, he could see it. He opened the box, and finally said it._

_“Would you marry me?”_

_Bev let out the air she was holding back and put her hands on her mouth, unable to speak at first, Will felt a wave of pure happiness at this._

_“Yes! Definitely yes!”_

_Will embraced her before they kissed. They were both so happy; the future seemed so bright right now._

Will knew he had done some things wrong lately.

First he had been too slow to understand that Hannibal was the culprit. He should have been faster. He had trusted him when he thought he was losing his mind, he thought the doctor truly wanted to help him. He was clearly wrong. His biggest error had been to ask Beverly’s help, not that she was unable to help him but it had been way too dangerous. He couldn’t forgive himself. Now Alana and Jack were telling him that Beverly Katz, his fiancée, was dead. He should have seen it coming, how had he been so stupid to endanger her life in such a senseless way?

He felt tears coming to his eyes, he was feeling sick and numb, but more of all he was feeling sad, incredibly sad and guilty. It was his fault. The tears didn’t fall yet, and his face was unmoving. He was barely listening to them, he couldn’t.

Beverly had been found burned in her apartment, blood on the floor tended to prove she had been hurt before being burned. He envisioned her standing here, near the window, he knew she was only in his head; she was looking at him with sadness, because he had lost her.

Will was guilty for this; he shouldn’t have put her in such a situation. For the very first time since he got locked in a cell, he felt that he deserved to be here. He felt like a monster.

Then as they were talking, it crossed his mind: he had a part of guilt, but Hannibal was the monster who really had to pay, and it would happen. Yes, he couldn’t stay numb and sad like this, he would let his rage and vengeance lead him, he would make the man pay, if he couldn’t have happiness,  then he would at least have the satisfaction to drag his enemy to hell with him. He looked at his colleagues; Alana was giving him one of her comforting speech when he interrupted her:

“It’s Hannibal. I know it is.”

“Will, stop that, Hannibal is not...”

“He is! He killed her and you are going to let him get away with it!”

“I know that you want to find a person to blame, but Hannibal is your friend Will, our friend,” Alana said.

He scoffed. At a time he would have believed she would have supported him. Now it was clear she had chosen her side. How could she do that to him, to Beverly…

“I asked her to investigate more on Hannibal Lecter.”

“She was investigating proves about you,” objected Jack. “She was pretending to stay away from your case, and I pretended not to see what she was doing.”

Will tightly closed his eyes, he wouldn’t convince them, Hannibal had them around his little finger. If Beverly could see them, she would probably spit at their faces! He fought against the tears; he had to remain strong, for her. He would have to do this himself, but he couldn’t do everything from here.

“I want to see the crime scene.”

“Are you sure?”

“I want to see it.”

“We can’t let you do that...”

“Please! Jack...Let me see my fiancée.”

At those words, Jack accepted even against Alana’s protest, she was sure it wouldn’t be good for him. The thing is Will didn’t want to do anything good for him. He wanted revenge for Beverly. He had already lost Abigail, the one he considered as a daughter, now he just lost his future wife...

The hospital staff completely restrained him; they put a mask on him, it was humiliating. When he arrived on the crime scene, he saw this bitch of Freddie Lounds taking pictures of him, she would write another disgusting article about him, with that little air of triumph, yet he didn’t care. He didn’t care about her, or about everyone around. They took him to her flat; he ignored people’s stares, he ignored Price and Zeller who immediately left the room upon seeing him. When he was inside Jack told them to leave and freed him from his restrains.

He looked down at the corpse; Jack stayed behind, saying nothing, it was as if he wasn’t here. Will rubbed his face as some tears fell from his eyes. Lord this was so horrible, so hideous, so painful.

“Bev...”

He visualised her, standing near her own burned corpse, she was looking at him with a sad face, still so pretty. This burned corpse...It wasn’t Beverly, not anymore, nothing was recognizable anymore. He looked at the crime scene there was some blood on the table, it was still here in spite of the firemen’s intervention to stop the fire, the water had spared it. Will closed his eyes, and began to reconstruct the scene, forcing himself to do so.

_I enter the apartment without breaking the door, she let me enter. I jump on her but she put up a fight. I smash her head against the table to knock her down...She falls and I drag her at the other side of the table, it will be much better to do what I want. Then I..._

He stopped the train of his thoughts and realised that something was wrong, something seemed faked. There was a lot of blood but strangely he couldn’t really feel the fight here. Yet the blood was spread and the room was a mess. He went on:

_There is a lot of blood because I stabbed her multiple times. Once she is dead I burn the body. I want...I want her to be burned because I want to erase her face. Even the teeth are damaged. Everything that made her identifiable._

Realisation started to hit him but he went on, because he knew he was close to the truth.

_No traces of evidences, even if this seems to be a mess, everything was planned. She found something. She found me. What she found disappeared already._

During their last conversation, he said that there was no copycat, only the Ripper all along. She wanted to find proves about that, and she was starting to believe him, he could feel it. That’s why he warned her not to approach Hannibal. It crossed his mind then. He knew what happened. Beverly found her proof and put herself in big danger. She went too close to him. He told her to go and see Jack, but she probably didn’t, and then what happened after that?

“She was investigating on Lecter because I convinced her to...” he murmured to himself.

Beverly wasn’t the type of woman to stop when she was on something, if she found something about Hannibal and managed to escape, then she would never have returned home, she would have tell Jack immediately. So there was no reason for her corpse to be here. He had to know what she did after leaving her job, to be sure. He turned to Jack who looked at him expectantly.

 “Who was the last one who saw her?”

“Well except for the murderer, it was Jimmy Price.”

“Did she tell him something?”

“I’ll call him and ask, but Will what can you tell me about this?”

“I’m not sure, but I need to know what she told Jimmy.”

Jack sighed but complied with Will’s wish, he hoped Jimmy would be okay enough to handle this, the man was devastated like everyone. He called for Jimmy who looked at Will in discomfort when he saw him. Everyone was feeling uncomfortable around him.

“Yes boss?”

“Jimmy, are you okay?”

“Not really.”

Will cut them off, he didn’t have time for that crap, if Jimmy wanted to cry, then he would do it home.

“Jimmy, what did she say the last time you saw her?”

“She...She asked if Jack was around.”

“Then what?”

“I told her that he was at hospital because of his wife.”

“What else, what did you say exactly?”

“That Doctor Lecter called him because of his wife, she asked if Mrs Crawford was okay, I said I didn’t know and then she asked me if Hannibal was at hospital too...I can’t stop thinking about it, I never thought it was the last time...”

“Okay, I got it.”

Jack gestured to Jimmy to leave, and though the man looked baffled, he did as he was told. Now he could be sure of what happened: Beverly didn’t want to go to Crawford because she thought she had no proof, Will had told her Hannibal was keeping trophies to eat them, and she knew Lecter wasn’t home.

‘ _She tried to find proves, and Hannibal caught her.’_

Hannibal caught her doing so, he caught her in _his_ home, then why killing her in her flat? He could have escaped him, but then, why returning here without telling anyone, it didn’t make any sense. Maybe he had taken her back here, but it was risky, she lived in a building in a crowded street, someone could have seen him...Yet no one saw anything. Plus, she was spending much more time in his home, she was about to leave this place to live with him in a new house...Hannibal knew this because Will told him that during a session, he wouldn’t have bring her back here, in fact it would have been more like him if he had exposed her body in Will’s home, to taunt him. But here the body was burned and in the flat she wanted to leave, why?

_‘So we would be sure it’s her...’_

Looking at the corpse again, Will understood that his suspicions were true: it could be anyone, even the teeth were too damaged to tell who it was. It could be anyone so everyone would believe she was dead...Hannibal was far from being stupid, he knew Will would see trough that, the scene looked like this to fool the authority, but not him. It was a message: she was alive, Lecter was keeping her somewhere.

“She is alive, Jack I know she is alive.”

“What?”

Will started to explain him first that there was no copycat, only the Ripper all along; Jack didn’t contest this and listened attentively

“You want her to be alive, but you have to...”

“No Jack, I know it!”

“Fine, you think he didn’t kill her in her flat because it would have been hard to bring her here, so he replaced her by another person? How taking another person could have been easier for him?”

Will was speechless at this, it was true, Bev or another woman, Hannibal wouldn’t have taken the risk. Yet something was still wrong, he was sure something else happened, that Beverly didn’t go home, that she confronted Hannibal. This scene looked faked; Lecter brought someone here and simulated the fight. It was possible that he fooled someone, when he captured Beverly, he could perfectly have stolen her keys after locking her away and then lure someone in, pretending this was his home. That’s why there was no forced entry. Maybe that woman he took was a prostitute, one that accepted to follow a client to his house, Will wasn’t sure but it wasn’t Beverly. If it was her, Lecter would have leave her face so Will and the FBI could stare at it in defeat. Now he was keeping her somewhere, she was at his mercy...

“Jack, she was going to live with me, she was prepared to leave this place, you have to go at Lecter’s home and search, you’ll find her, I’m sure you will...”

“No! You don’t have a proof; you’re just fixated on the idea that Hannibal is a killer. I shouldn’t have let you come here. Now all I will obtain from this is an article from Freddie Lounds who will gladly tell how the FBI let an instable criminal come on a crime scene...”

“So you still consider me as a criminal?”

Jack didn’t say a word, hesitating. He wanted to believe that Will was innocent but there were too many proves pointing to him, he couldn’t let his feeling get in the way. Yet it was hard to look at his friend in the eyes and tell him such a thing.

“I am responsible too, if I didn’t push you so far...”

“I didn’t kill them, and I am right for Beverly! You must listen to me.”

“I do. I’m grateful for telling me what you think about having no copycat, and I’ll consider it ,but I can’t believe the rest. I have to work and you have to go back to...”

“Think about it, if she is alive, she is hoping that you’re searching for her, will you really...”

“That’s enough!”

He looked absolutely furious, and Will knew that it was over. He had failed to convince him. Men came to take him back and Jack looked at him leaving and felt incredibly sad and exhausted. He had lost both Beverly and Will, and it was hard really. Those two would have been happy together and now, one was dead and the other mad. He had failed to protect them, like he had failed with Miriam Lass, he had pushed her too far and he had done the same with Will, and Beverly was also under his responsibility. All of them were now lost, and he was responsible.

Will was in a trance like state when he was taken away in the van and carried back to the institute. Beverly was imprisoned somewhere, in the hands of Hannibal, and he couldn’t have his colleagues’ help. He sighed and looked at the empty corridor. He would still find a way to save her, but how? He didn’t know, but one thing was sure: he wouldn’t drop it, he wouldn’t give up! Even if he had to sell his soul to the Devil.


	3. Confusion, Beverly

When Hannibal Lecter came back to Beverly, he had a glass of water in his hand and in the other bandages and a quite long chain. She was weaker than earlier, she hadn’t lost much blood but it had contributed to exhaust her, and the hunger and thirst had increased. It was a torture to see a sink and not being able to reach it because of those damn handcuffs. She remained in a semi-conscious state but she made an effort and reopened her eyes when she heard Lecter come in, she had to stay alert. When she saw the water, she had longed for it deeply but immediately feared it to be poisoned and shook her head when he handed it to her.

“Don’t be scared, it’s only water, I don’t need poison to kill you here.”

Indeed, it was true he had many other ways to kill her. She didn’t resist any longer, took the glass and drank it greedily. It was soothing to feel the fresh water in her dry mouth, she felt a little less dizzy. He took the glass back once she was finished and put it out of her reach.

“Now, Miss Katz, where are your manners?”

“Thank you.”

“Good.”

Hannibal smiled, not a smirk but a nice smile which really seemed genuine. He took her arm and bandaged the cut he previously made. He did that with care, even though Beverly was really scared that he would hurt her again. Once he was done, he chained her right ankle to a pipe, allowing her to move more freely.

“What is that for?”

“For your comfort, it would be stupid to have a toilet here if you couldn’t use it.”

As he was saying that, he freed her restrained arm. She was still chained, but it would be definitely better like this. For a brief moment, she almost felt grateful; however that feeling disappeared when she looked at Hannibal in the eyes again.  

“Please, tell me what you want,” she asked pleadingly.

“I think you have some potential, buried way underneath, but you have it. I want to unveil it.”

“Potential for what?”

“To see true beauty.”

He wasn’t really sincere when he said that, he was pretty sure Beverly didn’t have a lot of potential to see the beauty of what he was doing, yet he would still try to make her see...First because he had even more chances to attract Will in his world with her at his side, and second because among her colleagues, she was the one Hannibal liked the most for reminding him of someone who was once dear to him: Lady Murasaki, his aunt who he fell in love with. It was not only the fact she was Asian, it was this strength and sense of moral she possessed, and he hoped that in contrary to his aunt, she wouldn’t refuse to enter his world. 

“You murdered Abigail...You sent Will in jail...You used him as a scapegoat. Is that what you call beauty?”

“Jack Crawford and the authorities sent him in jail.”

“It’s your fault!”

“Really? My dear, tell me if I’m correct: Jack Crawford and Alana Bloom are both qualified in profiling, they are smart people who know Will. Don’t they?”

“Yes...”

“Will trusted them, and so did you.”

Beverly said nothing, yet her look betrayed her. She was pondering over what Hannibal was saying, she knew he was right.

“Yet, I was able to make them believe that someone who worked with them and trusted them was a killer.”

“You manipulated everyone!”

“Not you apparently. Otherwise I wouldn’t have found you here.”

She didn’t know what to answer at this. With a heartfelt look he caressed her cheek softly, making her back away from him. He didn’t mind, he knew she would react in such a way.

“I must say I admire this love and devotion. You of all people didn’t abandon him. I couldn’t convince you, yet you’re not as good as them in profiling. But you knew.”

“It’s not the same. I love Will. Jack doesn’t feel the same way.”

“But he knows Will, he relied on him, and he is a smart man.”

She remained silent, she wanted to reject everything he was saying, yet she couldn’t help but agree. She still hated him but she had been angry indeed at her colleagues for not believing in her husband-to-be.

“Beverly, you were able to see through that, so why couldn’t they? It’s not because your feelings are different, it’s because they accepted what I gave them and didn’t question it, they abandoned Will. If they hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been obliged to come here alone, and I might be in jail now, while you and Will would have reunited.”

The thought made her eyes water. If only...It was true. If only Jack Crawford hadn’t been so thick-headed, she would have gone to him and they would have arrested Lecter already. It was because he refused to believe in Will...

“You came alone because you had no choice, Crawford wouldn’t have listened to you, but you couldn’t let the man you love rot in jail. And now you’re here. If I was really cruel, I could be doing horrible things to you, while they would still be refusing to trust Will.”

She looked at him puzzled.

“You said you would torture me. You are going to do horrible things to me.”

“I never said that. I said you would be expiating and then learning. That doesn’t necessarily involve torture. Though I admit it will be painful.”

He smiled at her, and stood up. She was dumbfounded, he counted on that.

“I guess you’re hungry. I’ll give you something to eat.”

Though she didn’t react at first she remembered what Will told her about him being a cannibal. The horrible idea of him making her taste human flesh hit her and she looked at him pleadingly.

“No meat...Please.”

“As you wish, but I think you will crave for it soon.”

“Never. Did I already...? When you invited me for dinner, did you serve me human meat?”

He didn’t answer that and just left, leaving her with doubts. Good God...She eat human flesh...It wasn’t her fault of course, and it was the only thing that was stopping her from going crazy right now. She tried to push that away, otherwise she would feel only worse, instead she thought of everything else he said. She knew he was trying to manipulate her, she knew she couldn’t give in, yet she remembered a conversation she had with Alana and Jack.

_After Will was arrested, she had been also taken for an interrogation by the police. The shock she got once she heard that not only Abigail died but Will was suspected for her murder made her cry and panic before anger took over. The man who interrogated her was a police officer, someone she didn’t know and who refused to tell her what was happening to Will. She spent forty eight hours there before they finally let her go._

_The worse was when she also heard that Jack shot Will because he escaped before being released. She went immediately to Jack’s office, furious and scared. She knew nothing of her beloved’s fate and she couldn’t believe Crawford hurt him._

_She entered without even knocking to find Alana with him. Jack rose in his chair and before he could speak she yelled:_

_“Where is Will, Jack?”_

_“Beverly...”_

_“Where?! Tell me right now!”_

_“Calm down. I know you’re upset...”_

_“Upset! You think I am upset! Abigail is dead, I got arrested and told that you shot Will and accuse him to be the Copycat!”_

_Alana stood up and took her by the shoulders in a comforting way but Beverly rejected the touch._

_“Please, sit down, we will explain you,” Alana proposed._

_Beverly stood still and Alana and Jack both explained everything that happened. At the end, she had tears in her eyes._

_“You can’t believe this to be true?! Okay, Will wasn’t feeling well recently, and maybe he is wrong about Hannibal, but that doesn’t make him a murderer! I live with him half of the time, I would have known! And he loved Abigail, he would have never hurt her!”_

_“I wish to believe that, but we are sure,” Jack said in a determined voice. “I...I’m sorry Beverly, I pushed him too far. It’s my fault as well.”_

_With that, Beverly’s tears fell on her cheeks._

_“There is another explanation! We are engaged! He wouldn’t have done this to us!”_

_“It wasn’t him when he was doing that. The Will we know isn’t a murderer but there is something else inside him,” Alana explained_

_“Is he still in hospital?”_

_“Yes, but we will soon transfer him in Baltimore Hospital for Criminal insane.”_

_“For criminal insane...” Bev repeated Jack’s word in a trance like state._

_With no sign of warning whatsoever, she slapped Jack hard and left the office, furious. She had to see Will, she couldn’t leave him alone. She saw some people reading the Tattler, this piece of trash written by a bitch of reporter who was nothing but a horrible bully persuaded to be so great...She felt a big wave of hatred for Freddie Lounds right now and all the people who were reading her shit. And she hated Jack and Alana for what they were doing._

_When she found herself at the hospital, they accepted to let her see Will, but he was still in artificial comate. Then she heard he had encephalitis, the nightmare was getting worse. While he was sleeping, she took care of the dogs, she tried to speak with Zeller and Price. They were sorry and wished to find proves to innocent Will but they couldn’t find any. They told her he was accusing Lecter but it didn’t seem coherent. She also thought that too._

_As soon as Will woke up, he was transferred to his new jail, and she finally got a chance to see him awake. As she walked toward his cell, she was feeling more and more desperate. That place was a cold hell, so hideous and hopeless, filled with insensitive employees and prisoners who looked sinister and demented. Will had nothing to do here, and neither did she. When she finally reached him, his features were dark and numb, his face lightened and got livelier when he saw her. She immediately took his hands through the bars._

_“Bev...”_

_“Will, are you alright?”_

_“Apart from being here? I’m not hurt. Do they suspect you?”_

_“They did. I was interrogated but they dropped the suspicions.”_

_He brought her hands up and pressed those against his face while releasing a shaky sigh._

_“Bev, it’s not me.”_

_“I know! I would never believe that! You will get out of here, and we will marry.”_

_They kissed; she truly believed what she was saying._

He looked so empty when she saw him. And when she thought about Alana’s pity or Jack giving useless apologizes while he was doing nothing for them, it made her blood boil. Hannibal was trying to manipulate her, to demonize them so she would forget that her anger should be directed at him. Yet everything he said was true, it was maybe the worst part in this, she couldn’t even deny he was right.

Could she forgive her colleagues? She wasn’t sure. She thought of Jimmy Price and Zeller, at least, they tried to believe in Will and tried to find proves to help him, but they only found more evidences against him. She couldn’t blame them; she knew they couldn’t lie about their results. They had showed her and Will sympathy, and she was grateful for that. Yet she knew they would soon abandon too, influenced by the other. Did they know already that she disappeared? They probably noticed her absence, but would they finally understand that Will was right?

She felt like crying again thinking about him. Now they were both in horrible places, both prisoners because of a monster and some people’s stupidity.

Hannibal gave her something to eat, she just checked it was no meat and then he left her alone again. If she hadn’t been left for hours without any food, she would probably have refused it just to show how much he repelled her, but she couldn’t allow herself to do that, she had to eat. Once she was done, she looked at her surroundings again and she wondered what time it could be. She had no view of the outside, no window, no clock…She didn’t even know if it was the day or the night…When she went to Hannibal’s house, it was the evening. But how much time passed after that? She had remained in a semi-conscious state almost all the time, resting from what happened to her, and she didn’t notice that she had no indication of time until now.   

She also realised she had absolutely nothing to entertain herself with, no books or anything as such. Until now it hadn’t been such a bother to do nothing but rest but she would soon grow bored…And it wouldn’t be simple boredom you could feel while waiting for your bus or when you have nothing to do but watch TV, no. It was real and utter lack of stimulation and she knew it could be maddening. Was this a way to made her suffer? It was highly possible.

Hannibal didn’t come back to pick up the dishes and Beverly could do nothing but listen to silence. Time was passing so slowly…Or was it an impression? How much longer would this last?


	4. Confrontation, Will

_Will was lying in bed with Beverly when he woke up late at night. The previous night was the one when Georgia came in his home; Beverly wasn’t here, thank god; Graham wasn’t sure whether it was just chance, or if she actually choose a night when he would be alone, but he was glad of that. Knowing that Will had been alone when a killer was in the house worried Beverly and she came here tonight, she wanted to be here for him. They made love before going to sleep, it made Will forget his fears for a moment, he was glad he got a moment of rest. That’s why when he woke up after another nightmare, he was careful not to make any noise in order not to wake her up._

_He knew she wanted him to quit the job and be only a teacher again; they had talk about it once. Yet Will couldn’t stop, not as long as the Ripper and the copycat were still on the loose, he felt it was his duty to catch them. Bev understood his feelings but she was worried, as well as Alana. He drank some water, hoping he would feel a little better. He would have to talk again to Hannibal, he was more and more worried, he didn’t want to scare Bev and he didn’t want to lose her. He knew he would never hurt her, but tonight’s nightmare had been horrible as he visualized himself holding Beverly like Hobbs held Abigail and slitting her throat. He saw her die in his nightmare and it was absolutely dreadful._

_He knew he would never hurt her, but he needed to talk to Hannibal for advices. This couldn’t continue, he had to find stability again, the one he had before Jack Crawford came, he needed that otherwise, he and Beverly might never marry.  When he lay back in bed again he looked at her and smiled, she looked peaceful, he promised himself she would remain that way._

_When he met her, he was way less stable; he had a tendency to neglect himself, even if he was still very efficient at work and taking care of his dogs. His eating and sleeping habits weren’t regular enough, he knew it was bad but he didn’t feel the motivation to change it, he was neglecting the house chores too often and was often not motivated to do anything. His home had a cold atmosphere even with the presence of the dogs to liven it up. Nightmares were also recurring. He knew those were symptoms of depression, even if he wasn’t depressed yet he knew he wasn’t far from it, but he didn’t want to talk about it. Then he met Beverly Katz._

_He could feel she was attracted to him, and he felt actually quite drawn to her too. She had this kind of blunt honesty that made her tell things directly. They began to spend time with each other, either going out for a drink, either for a movie. The first time he went into her flat he saw she was keeping it neat and it made him feel quite bad about his own house. Before inviting her, he did his best to clean it, and even if it was still lacking warmth, it was still better. He could feel she wasn’t really comfortable at first when she came, but she didn’t leave._

_She made him understand soon enough that she could tolerate the dogs, but he had to change his way of life, and he accepted it, at first he did and effort mostly for her, but in the end he felt glad he did, he was feeling better, and the nightmare were less and less frequent._

_Now, this very night after Georgia visited him, this very night during which he had this horrible nightmare he decided he would stop once they would catch the Ripper, or at least the Copycat. Hannibal told him that his life was as important as the ones he saved, Will wasn’t feeling convinced at first, but now he realised that his life with her was important indeed. He wouldn’t quit now, but he would eventually, so he would not have this kind of nightmares again._

In Baltimore Hospital, Will was thinking back of this very night. He should have stopped that job immediately after Georgia. No. He should have never accepted to take the job when Jack Crawford contacted him, he should have stayed away from this. The thing was he knew Bev worked for him and he was seduced at the idea of working with her. Crawford knew about that and warned them to be professional on field but Will never intended to do otherwise. He should have just told him to screw himself. He would have never worked with Hannibal. Beverly would have, but he wasn’t sure whether or not the cannibal would have taken an interest with her. He was pretty sure this was because of him, and he felt only guiltier. This pain was just making him feel so sick and angry, angry at himself, at his colleagues for not believing him, and Hannibal...Angry couldn’t describe his feelings well. He loathed the man. He had to focus on that if he didn’t want to lose her.

He was waiting for his next session with Dr Chilton. He was actually pretty impatient. He did many things wrong recently, but he had at least one good idea: short before Beverly was kidnapped he told Chilton that he didn’t want Lecter to be involved in his therapy anymore, that he wanted to be in Frederick’s care only. Of course the man accepted.

Right after that, they got their first session with lights, Will understood what Hannibal did to him and as he explained Chilton that his seizure and memory losses had been induced by Hannibal, he saw that the man believed him, or at least taking what he said seriously. If he could make him understand that Lecter was indeed a murderer and more importantly that Beverly was alive…

Sure Chilton wasn’t the smartest man he knew, or the bravest, but right now he was being way less stupid than the FBI and he needed an ally from the outside. Plus Chilton was the director of his prison, having him on his side would definitely help one way or another. This was his only chance.

He wondered why he was brought in the parlour and not in the same room that they used for his first session. Chilton was sitting on a chair, he looked actually sorry and the sufficient air on his face wasn’t as obvious as usual.

“Hi Doctor.”

“Hi Will.”

“I have something to ask you, Doctor. Have you heard of what happened to my fiancée, Beverly?”

Frederick was glad that William would bring the subject. He knew about Beverly of course, he recorded their conversation each time she would visit him (except the last one because they asked to be in a private room where it would have been forbidden to record them) and it seemed that Will truly had feelings for her. After their first session he was beginning to have doubts about Will’s guilt, and those doubts intensified. Though he wasn’t that compassionate about his patients usually, he wasn’t a monster either. He had the feeling Graham could be innocent as he claimed, and if he was right, this was definitely a horrible story.

“I was told indeed. You have all my sympathy. Do you want to talk about what you felt?”

“I’m sure she is alive.”

Chilton smiled sympathetically and Will could see he wasn’t convinced yet.

“You’re in denial, it’s normal; it’s the first step of mourning.”

“I’m not in denial, I’m sure Hannibal Lecter did something to her, but he didn’t kill her. He is keeping her somewhere, I know that.”

“What did you feel when they told you about what happened? How did you feel about her?”

He obtained at first no response from Graham, who seemed to hesitate before answering. Will wasn’t sure if he wanted to expose his feelings, if he started to say how much he loved her, how much he missed her, he would break. He needed to stay strong, he had to focus on convincing Chilton to work with him as he wished.

“I wonder if I should trust you. After all, I proposed you to let you analyse me only if you kept Lecter out, but you spoke with him about my therapy.”

“I gave him a peak, to uncover him, that’s all. But let’s get back on Miss Katz. She went to see you during her last...Hours. What did you talk about?”

“The Chesapeake Ripper.”

“I can tell you something about your monster. He is a well educated man, socially confident, with knowledge in surgery.”

“I thought you said Gideon was the Ripper.”

The doctor turned his head away, as if what he was about to say was really not easy to let out.

“Well, I was wrong about that it seems.”

“He knows who is the Ripper,” Will continued, “and so do I. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we both said it’s the same person?”

Almost forgetting all his previous sympathy, Chilton smirked at the idea of the fame and the glory it could bring. Will was perfectly aware it was his best chance.

“Indeed.”

“It’s a shame I can’t talk with him about it. Imagine, you could be the one who would catch him if you could record something compromising.”

“And I would free you in the process, this would be great for both of us.”

“Yes, but please, Frederick, be very careful around Hannibal, avoid him as much as possible. It’s the best thing you can do.”

“To catch him?”

“To survive him. Look again at what the Ripper can do. And remember that if I’m right, there is a woman in his hands.”

Chilton pondered over Will’s words. Maybe he was right; maybe he would have to be more cautious around Lecter. Once in his office he hesitated a little and opened his files about the Ripper. He looked at all his crime and even if his greed for glory and his pride were way too strong to make him give up on his plans, he decided that he would have to be indeed more cautious. He could perfectly trap Lecter, he was sure of it, but he would need Graham for that.

Once he was over, he began to do the necessary to have Gideon back to his hospital, it would take some days however, you couldn’t transfer a dangerous prisoner like that.

**OoO**

Meanwhile, unknowingly to Frederick, Hannibal was entering the hospital and asked to see Will Graham; he was told at first that he had no right to interfere with his therapy anymore. Hannibal knew they would say that, so he pretended to be here to give Will his sympathy for his loss, which convinced the staff to let him pass.  Lecter wondered how William would be. Did he understand that Beverly was alive? A part of him hoped so, he hoped that Graham could see this far. On the other hand, he wished him to ignore it; it would allow him even more control. When the younger man saw him, he stood up immediately. He wasn’t broken like a man who lost his beloved; his eyes were telling that he knew.

“Hello, Will.”

“I thought you were told that you have no right to interfere with my therapy.”

“I’m not here as a doctor, I’m here as a friend. I want you to know that I’m sorry for Beverly.”

Graham smiled humourlessly and approached him as much as the bars allowed him. Lecter made no movements; after all he knew perfectly Will wasn’t a killer.

“You’re in my head Hannibal and I can see inside yours. I know what you really did. I know she isn’t dead.”

Hannibal stopped himself from smiling, it would have appeared suspicious if he didn’t react to such accusations like an innocent man.

“You’re not in my head Will, otherwise, you would see things more clearly. I guess you’re in denial, it’s normal. But please, don’t put her death on me.”

“I won’t. Because I know you didn’t kill her.”

“Will...”

“Hannibal, give me my wife back!”

The word ‘wife’ didn’t escape Lecter neither the way he said that spontaneously. They were already married in his head, and being able to see her again would probably become an obsession.

“In time Will, you’ll be able to understand, and you’ll probably find some happiness back.”

This was enough for Will to understand. Beverly was alive indeed.

“Maybe and I’ll do anything for that,” Will declared with determination.

“Good, you need to keep hope Will, it’s what’s makes us all grow stronger.”

Hannibal left with that, pretty satisfied with their conversation. He would go back to work and then see Beverly. She would need some food, he had feed her yesterday and this morning but she would have nothing at noon. She would also need to shower. He also would have to check on Miriam Lass. He had kept her all this time, now it would be the right time to use her. Plus she couldn’t stay long at the place where he moved her.

After he captured Beverly, he didn’t keep her in the basement of the house he possessed in town, but in his second house, one he possessed near the sea. It wasn’t far from Baltimore, just enough to be isolated and in peace. He used to keep Miriam in here, but with Beverly’s arrival, he had to move her. Now agent Katz was, unknowingly to her, in Miriam’s previous cell.

Will Graham watched as Lecter left the place. Hatred filled him and for a moment, he couldn’t help but feel that if Hannibal hadn’t hurt him and messed his life so much, he would have found him really fascinating. Of all the criminals he worked on, Hannibal was maybe the smartest and the most complex, a true challenge. It would ask him all his might to stop him, and it was probably what Hannibal wanted. Well then, he would give that cannibal what he wished for!

He sat down and for a moment he visualized Beverly standing near him, with a sad and expecting look. His thoughts softened as well as his gaze. What was she going through right now? It was thoughts he tried to push away by focusing on how he could trick Lecter, but he couldn’t do that all the time, he was worried for her, wondering and fearing, imagining the worst possibilities. Was she loosing hope? Lecter hardly gave anything away, just that she was alive, but how was she? He couldn’t help but imagine her maimed, with parts missing, hardly alive, and Lecter would eat her flesh under her horrified eyes…Or she was maybe being brainwashed, mentally tortured by this monster who liked to play with people’s mind, he imagined her screaming in the dark in pain…

He clenched his eyes and jaw tight, trying not to cry. He had to stay strong! He could still see her, standing at the window this time, her shape bathed in the sun.

“I’m missing you,” she was saying.

“I’m missing you too,” he whispered.

“Your mind can analyse almost everything and everyone. Use it, it’s not the moment to panic for me.”

He did as this projection of his mind said: he closed his eyes and analyzed. What did Lecter really want? Beverly and Hannibal didn’t interact much, so it wasn’t really about her, she had been involved because she was his fiancée. Hannibal wanted more than a scapegoat, otherwise he could have simply killed him and make it seems like a suicide, plus Will never was accused of being the Ripper, only the copycat, so it was useless. No. Hannibal simply wanted to make him break; he wanted to lead him to madness. For fun? Hannibal was surely playing, surely having a lot of fun but he wasn’t playing as usual with Will, he could have simply killed him in a gruesome way as he was often doing. No, Hannibal took time and energy for him. He even took the woman he loved while he could have truly killed her. Why? The answer was simple, and Will hated it: because Hannibal wanted to drag him into his madness, he wanted Will to be like him. Now the question was: did he wish to do the same with Beverly?

This possibility came into his mind and Will shivered: even if he could find Beverly again, maybe she would be something like Hannibal and then…Then…What would he do?


	5. A pact sealed with blood Beverly

Beverly was feeling so alone right now and she had nothing to do, absolutely nothing, it was maddening. At a point she was starting to really wonder if this was all real. She regained her sense the best she could, trusting her nails in her palm; pain would remind her it was all very real. She remembered the book _Alice in Wonderland_ which she read when she was a teen. At the beginning of the story, Alice eats a cake making her grow huge and she stays in a hall, trapped with no way out because she is too huge for the door, then she starts to question who she is and what she knows. Beverly could understand the character more than ever.

In order to remain collected she tried to think of how she could escape. She rested for a long time (though she didn’t know how much) so she was feeling stronger but she knew she had to completely recover before trying to attack the doctor. More importantly she had to get the key of her handcuffs, or even try to make the doctor untie her. She wouldn’t be able to defeat him if she was still chained and even if she could she would be in peril if she was unable to free herself. But how would she make the doctor free her? She knew that playing his game to gain his trust would be the best way, but depending on what he had in store for her, she didn’t know if that would be possible.

Another thing was frustrating her deeply: she still had no way to know what time it could be and since how long she was here. Not too long, Hannibal gave her a meal earlier, the second since she was here. She couldn’t say if it was a breakfast, a lunch or a dinner. Whatever, she couldn’t have survived long with only two meals, so she wasn’t missing since long, yet she still wondered what time it was. Thinking of food, she found herself glad he accepted not to give her any meat. She couldn’t believe it at first when Will told her, but now, she had no doubt anymore.

Before getting captured, she trusted Jimmy and Zeller when they told her that they found no proof that Will’s suspicions on Lecter were founded. So she thought that someone was indeed trying to frame Will, someone else than Lecter. Yet she couldn’t find who, that’s why she accepted to investigate on him as her fiancé wanted. She wished to prove him wrong so he would understand his errors and then focus on finding the truth. Little did she know that he already did, Lecter was just stronger than she thought. It made her feel sadder when she remembered how Will was talking about him before, when he still didn’t suspect a thing.

_They were both at the house, cooking in the kitchen some fishes Will caught. They liked to cook together._

_“I should bring some of those fishes to Lecter once, he would definitely do something great with it,” Will said._

_“Or ask him to give us some cooking classes, though I fear I’ll never be at his level. The dinner he served us yesterday was really delicious. For a moment I wondered if he actually asked a professional cook for him.”_

_“Yeah! But according to Jack and Alana it’s really his doing.”_

_“He is not talented for cooking only, he made you like him. Will Graham going along with a psychiatrist, it’s pretty much an exploit,” she said jokingly._

_“Come on, I don’t hate them, I just don’t like to be around them too much. And I like Alana.”_

_“Yeah, but that’s because you had a thing for her at a time.”_

_“She couldn’t compete with you however. Sure she didn’t try, but if she did, she would have completely failed.”_

_At this Beverly laughed a little. She wasn’t jealous, she knew that Will wasn’t thinking of Alana anymore, and she knew that the Doctor wasn’t interested in him either. She kissed him on the lips._

_“She doesn’t know what she missed.”_

_He smiled, not really knowing what to say. There were moments when he still had difficulty to show his feelings, but he was learning well._

_“Anyway, those sessions with Hannibal should be helpful.”_

_“I think so too. Sometimes it’s still hard to talk about some things, but it’s easier with him, he... He doesn’t treat me with condescendence; I don’t feel like someone crazy.”_

_“You’re not crazy, and we both know that.”_

_“Yeah but some shrinks used to make me feel that way.”_

_“Do you think he could be a friend?”_

_“I don’t know. But I have the feeling I can trust him.”_

_Beverly agreed on that, the man seemed like someone stable and safe._

If only they had known...When he invited them it was human flesh, she was sure of it. Will looked so horrified when he came to that conclusion, she had hoped he was wrong and that’s also why she had been reckless in trying to find proves, she wanted to be sure, she had to know whether or not she eat human flesh. Now she knew and it was making her sick and every time she could see the wooden table with blood on it, she would shiver. It was probably here that he killed and dismembered some of his victims. She hoped she would never find herself lying on it.

She had to push away those thoughts; otherwise, she would go crazy. Instead, she reminded herself of what she learned about captivity, mostly how to resist Stockholm syndrome. She knew the causes and the results, the victim would develop positives feelings toward their captor in order to survive a hostage situation or an abusive relationship, until they would blame or reject people who would save them. She wondered if the anger she felt for Jack and the FBI was one of those symptom, but no, she was already angry at them before, and she wasn’t blaming them on Hannibal’s behalf, but hers and Will. Now she was pretty sure Hannibal was encouraging her to be angry at them in order to feel thankful toward him, because as he said, he could do anything he wanted but wouldn’t. He wanted her to feel grateful toward him, well she wouldn’t. But she could let him believe that she was.

After hours, she heard footsteps, the door opened and looked in Lecter’s direction as he came down. She wasn’t as scared as the first time, but she still feared him. When he was sitting at her level, she braced herself for whatever was coming.

“Hello Beverly.”

“Hello,” she said almost reluctantly.

“Feeling better?”

“A little.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want you to be sick, it would be a pity.”

“Doctor, can you tell me what time is it? Since how long am I here?”

“You don’t need to know that. I can tell Will is doing okay however. I saw him earlier.”

At this she felt her blood rush. Was he telling the truth? How could she tell? His face was impossible to read.

“Does he know I disappeared? Did you tell him?”

“I can’t tell you what our conversation was about. I still consider Will as a patient and the secrecy of my job is sacred for me.”

She wanted to yell at him but she stopped herself, she had to gain his trust after all.

“Please, tell me if he knows that I disappeared or not. My colleagues probably know already, as well as my sister, someone noticed my absence, and even if they will probably never suspect you, they are searching for me, I know it. So did they tell Will?”

Hannibal smiled at her naivety. This would be even more delightful.

“You’re right; they’ll probably never suspect me. Tell me; haven’t you noticed that you were feeling weak when you first woke up here?”

Frowning, Beverly wondered why he was saying such a thing. She indeed noticed she was weak, that’s why the doctor had no problem cutting her arm. Did he drug her? She wasn’t sure, she knew about the drug’s effect but she never experienced it herself.

“Was it a drug?”

“No, you weren’t drugged once. I knocked you down, yet it wasn’t enough to make you feel that bad.”

“You didn’t remove anything from me...I checked.”

“Oh I did. You just couldn’t see it. Did you check your right arm?”

She was speechless at this; it was her right arm that was chained. She was missing any fingers; she pulled her sleeves up, and saw no cuts. She looked a little more closely and saw a little red mark on a big vein. It struck her immediately.

“You took some of my blood?”

“Indeed.”

“Why?”

Hannibal showed her a picture, she recognized her flat immediately but she didn’t pay much attention, all she could see was the blood and the burned corpse which barely looked human anymore.

“Because I needed your colleagues to understand that you’re dead Miss Katz.”

Her eyes widened as she understood what he did. This was even worse, she couldn’t even count on the slight possibility that her colleagues would eventually find her, they wouldn’t even search for her! And who was this person who burned? She could perfectly see it was a real human body. She was beginning to panic, and she looked at Lecter without even trying to contain the fear.

“You killed someone...”

“I needed a body if I wanted to keep you for myself. They couldn’t believe you were dead otherwise.”

He killed someone because of her...She knew it wasn’t really her fault, it was his, but she felt guilty still, she couldn’t help it. Who was this person? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“You’re a monster...”

“I didn’t have the choice, it was her or you.”

So it was a woman. Another life destroyed forever...She felt his hand on her shoulder and she backed away again, she couldn’t bear this touch. She was feeling so desperate, so sad, so horrified, she just wanted this all to stop! She wished so much it was a bad dream; she wished she would wake up with Will at her side. But she knew it was all real. Hannibal continued:

“I hope you value your life now, killing you would have been easier. Even if your projects for the future are compromised…”

“Don’t! Don’t you dare to talk about that!”

Pain and anger were evident in her voice, she didn’t even sound scared anymore when she said that. She cried again. He watched her with a neutral face, she would understand once the first shock passed. He stood up and left, he wanted her to sink furthermore into despair. Once she would be completely hopeless, she would be easier to influence. He would tell her that Will still believed her to live, but not now.

Hannibal didn’t come downstairs the next morning to give her food. Instead, he went to work directly.

He would be away for the rest of the day, he knew she had probably thought of what he said all the night, and she would have all the day in addition to make her spirit fell in darkness as she would be alone, desperate and lost. The hunger would probably help too. He was perfectly aware that she couldn’t know what time it was. It was part of her ‘therapy’, if he could put it that way. He would make her loose all track of time, making her even more confused. He had to admit the idea of trying to corrupt her was appealing to his curiosity. Could a person like her really see his world for what it was? He was pretty sure she could if he handled her well, it would be an intriguing game.

He received a visit from Jack, showed fake sadness for what ‘happened’ to Beverly Katz and spoke with Crawford about his visit with Will.

“He still believes she is alive?” Asked Jack

“Yes. He does and he thinks it’s me. He is in denial, next, it will be anger.”

“Who knows? I wonder if he can follow the usual steps of mourning. It’s Will Graham after all.”

“For now, it seems that he does. But I can’t take a part in his therapy anymore, so I hope Dr Chilton will be able to help him.”

“I heard he wants to transfer Gideon back to his hospital. I wonder why.”

This made Lecter curious. Indeed, why? He would have to invite Frederick and talk with him. He remembered the day when Chilton asked him whether or not he used some unethical methods with Graham. That good Frederick was having suspicions; did he intend to use Gideon? Whatever, Chilton wasn’t suspecting what was coming at him.  

Once he was home, he began to prepare something to eat for Beverly, and as he thought of her, he surprised himself to think of his aunt, always so beautiful when she was wearing her kimonos. He had one or two that belonged to her and he even bought one once, years after she left him, just because it reminded him of her. In a way, Beverly was a little like this kimono, a reminder of his aunt, but that comparison wasn’t really good, she was much more important than that, she served a purpose for the future.

When Hannibal saw Beverly she had a haunted look. She wasn’t broken yet, but she was in condition for what he decided to do next. She didn’t even look at him when he came down with food.

“You are probably hungry, I’m sorry I couldn’t go to you sooner.”

She looked at him but gave no answer and didn’t touch the food he just brought her.

“I hope you don’t intend to starve yourself.”

“Why would it matter? I’m already dead.”

“Death can be the beginning of a new birth. The old you can die to give the world another Beverly Katz.”

“I don’t want to be another Beverly Katz. I want my life back!”

“That won’t be possible. Not anymore. But if you accept to cooperate with what I want to do, in my projects, I’ll have Will’s name cleared.”

The haunted look disappeared for a wary but hopeful one.

“How?”

“I have a way to make the FBI understand that Will is not the killer without getting arrested.”

“How can I believe you? I need a proof.”

“You will have it. Once he is free I’ll make you know, but in the mean time, you’ll have to trust me. So, do we have a deal?”

He extended his hand to her. Beverly knew perfectly she was making a deal with the devil, she knew she would probably never recover from what he would do to her, she would to drown into madness, she would have to lose a part of her. Yet she couldn’t abandon Will, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did anyway. He trapped her the moment he made this proposition, whatever her decision would be, she would be hurt. But if she could save Will in the process...

She shook his hand.

“Deal.”

He gave her a vulture smile. He took a knife out of his pocket and seized her neck. He approached the knife slowly and she tried to back away but the strong grip stopped her.

“We will seal our deal. Don’t worry, it won’t kill you. But if you want to make this deal, you’ll have to be compliant.”

He made a slight cut at her neck avoiding the jugular carefully, letting blood drip out and before she could stop him, he was leaning against her, his lips against the wound, sucking out the blood. Beverly badly wanted to push him away, but she knew she had to stop. Oh those lips! They felt like leeches against her skin, and she could feel his teeth, it wasn’t hurting badly but it was so perverted and twisted. He was leaning against her more and under his weight, she slowly fell on the mattress, he fell down with her, his upper body was covering hers. She was tempted to ask him to stop when he finally raised his head to look at her. God, the sight of his bloodied lips and the hungry look on his face was chilling and appalling, the man was nothing but a beast inside.

“I know I said I wouldn’t damage your neck but I couldn’t resist, and for such an occasion…”

She didn’t answer anything and thought he was done when he changed his position to straddle her and brought the knife to his arm and made a good cut. Then, at her horror, he brought it to her lips.

“Drink.”

She tried to turn her head away, not even thinking about the pact anymore. She couldn’t do that! But he grabbed her hair and forced his skin against her lips. He was still partially leaning on her, she couldn’t escape.

“Drink, you know what they say, when you make a deal with the devil, you sign it with blood. We both have to sign it.”

So, trying to push away her disgust, she opened her mouth and let the blood flow in. Hannibal smiled in satisfaction

The coppery taste made her gag, but Lecter wasn’t giving any sign of stopping, so she swallowed his blood, as he asked her. She fought against the need to push his arm away and vomit, his blood was now invading her mouth and throat and she fought against the tears too. What she was doing was disgusting and sick, but she continued, she had to do it for Will, so he could finally be free. Eventually, he took his arm away and smiled to her. He bandaged both their wounds carefully.

“Now we have a deal.”


	6. First Fall, Beverly

After they made this deal, he brought her upstairs for a shower. First he was careful to remove objects which she could use to attack him and threatened her all the time with a gun so she wouldn’t run away or scream. She was still weakened anyway, so he knew he didn’t have much to fear.

“I’ll bring you spare clothes, something that should fit you more. Those clothes are dirty.”

She didn’t say a word; she still had the taste of his blood in her mouth. She locked herself in the bathroom and started to take off her clothes. Even if she locked the door, she feared that he would enter; she didn’t want him to see her like this. She doubted he would rape her; it wasn’t his intentions, but what if he changed his mind? What he did earlier with her blood…There was something sexual to it, even if the doctor didn’t intend to rape her, playing with their blood like that…

Breathing deeply to give herself courage, she finally took off her underwear and saw her reflection in the mirror. God...It was as if she was seeing a stranger, a woman naked and in distress who seemed more like a ghost. It wasn’t her, it wasn’t what she usually was, she was strong and lively according to everyone and according to Will...Hannibal said she would die a little inside, was it already the case? If she couldn’t even recognize herself in the mirror...She felt that it was only the beginning. She tried to stop that way of thinking, she was just shocked, she hadn’t see herself on the mirror since a good amount of time, it was normal to react like this.

Forcing herself to take her eyes away from her reflection, she started to shower, and it felt incredibly good After all this time in the dark room, on this mattress and in the same clothes, she felt like the water was cleaning more than her body, it was removing some of the pain. She took the soap and washed herself, scrubbed her skin almost too hard and felt like she could stay under the warm water forever. Yet she forced herself to stop the shower, she knew he would come back and she wouldn’t make him angry, now that she had a chance to save Will, she would show herself cooperative. A part of her felt like this was like capitulating but no, it was for her beloved.

She dried herself and heard a knock on the door. She wrapped a towel around herself and approached the door with caution.

“Yes?”

“Open the door, here are your spare clothes.”

She opened it slowly and saw the doctor standing here, handing her new clothes, as he was saying.

“Thanks.”

“Dress quickly.”

She closed the door again, he had given her close underwear, it was making her quite uneasy to think he did bought this for her, but she soon forget it when she saw her new clothes: he had given her a white warm robe made of wool and a silken kimono. She didn’t know what to think about it, it was so strange. Why the hell did he give her that, because she was Asian? It smelled like it had been locked up for years, it was clean, but it wasn’t newly-made. She couldn’t help but be in awe before its beauty. It was blue on the upper part with white little waves which represented a river. Lower, flowers of different colours were drawn on a mostly white background, and on the lower part...She shivered at the lower part, it was also a river, except that it was red. Like a river of blood. She closed her eyes and started to dress. She put the woollen robe first and then the silken kimono. With it, there was a long green piece of clothes; she supposed she had to wrap it around the kimono. Once she was done, she exited the bathroom.

When Hannibal saw her, he smiled at what he saw. She put the kimono and the obi on like an amateur, but he expected that, it was quite funny. But he had to admit she was beautiful in this.

“Come, I’ll help you with that.”

“With what?”

“You aren’t wearing it properly.”

She followed him as he led her in the living room; she got more time to look at it, the sills were closed, it was probably the evening. She could see no clocks around. She felt Lecter’s hands untying her obi, and she immediately panicked and backed away from him.

“Calm down, I have no intention of being indecent toward you. I’ll just show you how to tie the obi. Usually some padding goes with it, but I have none.”

 She nodded and let him approach her. She felt like some kind of doll and she didn’t like it one bit. Thank God, it was done soon enough. He made her turn round and looked at her intensely. She was definitely beautiful and reminding him of Lady Murasaki. Will had to see her like this one day. Beverly looked like she didn’t understand why he was watching her this way, so he told her to look at herself in the mirror. She did so. 

When she saw herself, head to toe in that kimono she definitely felt weird, it was...It was so strange, she felt beautiful but it was a beauty that wasn’t hers, yet it attracted her. If she hadn’t been in the hands of a cold psychopath, she might have really loved what she was seeing, but for now, she was torn between repulsion and admiration.

“I’ll ask you to be very careful with it. It belonged to someone important.”

“Who?”

She wasn’t really expecting him to answer, yet she tried, she wished to know; it gave her the feeling not to be just a dull doll. She actually astonished when he gave her a quick answer:

“My aunt. I helped her to tie her obi most of time.”

 She didn’t say more as he laid her downstairs. He chained her foot again; she didn’t try to go away.

“Now, I hope you are ready for what I prepared.”

With that, he took out a syringe, her eyes widened and she backed away from it. He took her arm firmly and gave her a deadly look.

“Remember our pact. If you want Will out, you have to cooperate. He should be free soon.”

“How can you be sure? Please, tell me.”

“Not now. You aren’t prepared to appreciate it fully, but I have hopes you will soon.”

With that he found her vein and injected whatever the syringe contained. It didn’t take long for Beverly to feel suddenly heavy and very light at the same time, her body fell limp, as if she couldn’t even support it anymore, on the other hand, she had the impression to be floating, but it wasn’t a nice sensation like floating in the air, it was as if she was engulfed into a big and smothering fog. At this moment, her vision started to betray her, things around her were strangely contorting, bending and moving in a way which was not natural at all. She turned toward the doctor, he drugged her, she had to resist, none of that was real...Yet it looked real...She began to hear voices, she looked at the doctor but his face and body were even more frightening in the way it abnormally contorted, he looked like a scary monster. He extended a hand, it had unnaturally long and fingers and claws instead of nails! She lost all knowledge this was because of the drug, her mind was too foggy, all she knew was that a monster was next to her, she screamed and tried to get away but she just couldn’t move!

She heard several voices, she couldn’t decipher what they were saying, but lord, this was just scary, it sounded like demons! She looked everywhere around, everything was moving and melting, everything was threatening, the shadows were beginning to take life, those were coming for her! She tried to get up and got a sight of the lower part of her kimonos. There were no flowers anymore but worms, and the red river was now made of real blood, blood which was soaking the fabric and her legs. She screamed again in fear and called Will at several time. He was the only one who could save her now! She called him at multiple times and saw the monster with long hands leaning over her trying to touch her, she pushed those hands away the best she could and she heard his voice:

“This is atmosphere Beverly, taste it, embrace it, let it in! Will is in here, he is listening at the sounds of a serenade played with human’s cords. Can you hear it?”

“No! Leave me alone!”

But those words let images erupt in her mind, Will standing thoughtfully at the side of a corpse transformed into a violin.

“Can you hear it? Hear this dark and rich melody, it is for you two, it’s like hearing universe itself, listen, remember Will standing next to it, he is now playing it for you!”

“No!”

But she saw him. She saw him so clearly, the only thing here that wasn’t deformed or grotesque, her beloved fiancé was standing next to a corpse horribly mutilated, the throat opened and a piece of violin thrust in it so you could play it. He was so handsome, he looked grand, powerful, nothing like the broken man she saw in Baltimore Hospital, it was Will when he was at his best. He took a bow, positioned himself behind the corpse, his movements were so graceful, he was even more handsome as she ever understood, contrasting with all she was seeing around. He started to play and then...She heard a sound, it was at first unbearable, too heavy, too dark. It was filling her ears and her brain; it was getting into her guts, into her veins.

“Will, stop!”

But it was as if he couldn’t hear her. She had to go to him, she had to tell Will, but her body was still so heavy. So she listened, and he more she would hear it, the less she would find this music less and less horrible. It was still sinister, but she started to feel fascinated, forgetting everything around, the shadow and the monster. Soon she was just watching, _absorbing_ Will playing and she heard his voice, even though he was not talking: _I had to open you up to obtain a decent sound out of you._

She could hear those clearly, it was the day they found this corpse transformed into a music instrument, he was with them during the autopsy, he startled everyone with those words, and she had really been worried for him. But no, Will wasn’t like this. Yet she was seeing him do that, and it was beautiful, _he_ was beautiful, bathed in light like some kind of angel. The sound continued to fill her, every inch of her flesh and skin, but most importantly her mind and soul. She was smothered by it, she was in its grasp, that sound...Atmosphere and universe the monster said. It was as big as universe indeed now and it was crushing her. She was unable to scream, she just absorbed it all.

Close to her, Hannibal wondered what she was seeing exactly, he had influenced her visions but he would have liked to know exactly what she was seeing, Will was a part of it obviously, maybe she was seeing him playing the music like he suggested. It was probably gorgeous, it was sad to see that she was still afraid; however she was on the good way it seemed.

He heard a knock at the door. He smiled; he knew the scream would have drawn _her_ attention. He left Beverly and went to his new companion in life.

“Is she okay?”

“Don’t worry, it’s the first time, it’s normal.”

“It wasn’t horrific for me the first time.”

“My methods with you were softer because you were more open. She will need more. But don’t worry Abigail, she’ll be fine, as well as Will.”

Abigail Hobbs nodded, trusting Doctor Lecter. After all, he was one of her fathers.

_

_

Days passed after they made the deal and it was like a descent in hell for Beverly. She had lost all track of time now, having no windows to see the outside. She was fed enough, but not in a regular way, when the doctor would take her shower it would sometimes be the morning or the evening, and there was never any clock in the house, and the doctor would never tell her what time it was. She understood already that it was a part of ‘her therapy’ as Hannibal liked to call it, he wanted to confuse her even more, and it was working. The injection with hallucinogens weren’t really helping her to keep tracks either.

He would inject her with drugs regularly, and when she wasn’t hallucinating, she had no books and no one to talk to, except for Hannibal when he decided to give her some company. She was just lost in her thoughts, all the time. What she could see, what Hannibal had done, the cannibalism...This was all harassing her, it was constantly in her mind, murders, murders, murders...Thinking about Will and their old life was one of the rare way to escape it. And even there, she would always go back thinking about something sick, like the horrible murders they worked on.

The lost of time, the drugs and the emptiness of her days put her into a deep confused state. She sometimes had the impression to float, even when she wasn’t drugged, it was as if reality was an abstract thing, unlike before when everything seemed clear. But she was starting to wonder if that clarity wasn’t just an illusion, like she had been totally blind to a lot of things, burying her head in the ground in order not to see. She doubted of pretty much everything, her colleagues, her work, her old life. The only thing she didn’t doubt about was her love for Will.

Her hallucinations when she was drugged were giving her nightmares. The first times, Lecter had been here to watch, he was rarely speaking, at least, that’s what he told her, he wanted her to see her own darkness; the first time had just been an initiation. During those visions she had seen horrible demons attacking her, she even saw another version of herself, looking hardly human who would try to rip her face off. The only good thing in this was that every time there would be a moment when she would see Will as if he was here, she could hear his voice clearly, and it was comforting.

More than once, she saw him playing violin with a corpse again, and she heard this same obsessing sound. It was hell’s music, but it didn’t matter, as long as he was the one playing. During the last session, she had seen him above her but she could hardly hear his voice, especially because a threatening shadow was yelling like crazy and trying to catch her. Yet Will didn’t seem to notice it, he was still speaking but she couldn’t grasp what he was saying. But she could hear the violin music then, even if he wasn’t playing.

When she woke up from that vision, she had been alone. Beverly didn’t know how to feel about it, because when Lecter was here, she was scared to be at his mercy, yet she had a presence to hold on, a real presence to distinguish dream and reality. Now, she was just alone, no one was bothering her, but no one was here to help. She didn’t know what she preferred.

Beverly knew he would be back soon, each time after she had her visions he would have a talk with her, to discuss what she had seen. He was always polite, even patient, and even if she hated him, she was feeling so alone she wished for some company. Plus she was almost starting to feel more comfortable in his presence. His visits weren’t really frightening her anymore, she knew what he wanted, yet she couldn’t help but cringe each time. It was a weird mix of longing for his company and feeling repulsed by it. But she wasn’t as scared by him as she was at first, she was cautious, always polite too, careful with her words.

Lying on the mattress, she was thinking while looking at the cellar. When she made the pact with the devil, she knew she would change and right now she could feel it. Maybe it was because her mind was plagued with horrible things, but she was feeling like something was cracking, as if an unknown force in her was awaking. Before being here, she liked her job, but she could always distance herself from it, but now... She had the impression she never understood a thing about what was going on, when she thought of her old life, she had the feeling she had barely brushed what she was really working about. Will did, but not her. Now it was as if she was beginning to take a peek at it.

Taking a deep breath, she tried stood up and push away those dark thoughts, she wanted to do some exercises. She had to keep her body in a decent condition, not moving could damage it. At least she was often alone for that. But tonight she was feeling incredibly weak. He removed blood from her system again and she didn’t have much to eat today, so she was feeling all dizzy and weak. She heard the door open and felt her guts tighten: he was here.

As soon as he was in her sightings, she saw he was dragging something heavy...When she saw what it was Beverly’s heart missed a beat and she tensed, making an effort to at least sit on her elbows. It was a human corpse. He turned to her and smiled.

“Hello Beverly.”

“Doctor, what is this?”

“What is it, according to you?”

“You never brought any of your victims here.”

“No, but I want you to see this, you’re ready for it.”

“Please, no, don’t...”

“I would have thought a forensic wouldn’t be intimidated by that kind of things.”

He put the corpse on the table that was on the centre of the room, the one with blood on it. She didn’t want to look at that, so she shut her eyes tight, until she felt a hand lifting up her chin, yet she refused to open her eyes.

“Watch, remember you have to be cooperative, this is part of our deal.”

“I don’t want to.”

“That’s why you need to learn. Now, open your eyes.”

She took in deep breath and finally opened her eyes. She saw his face, still so calm but obviously demanding, he had this kind of look that would let you know he wouldn’t accept any refusal. This same gaze softened however.

“Good.”

He went to the table and she bit her fingers out of nervousness.  It was a man in his forty years, the blood on his head let her thought he died out of a brutal blow, but she was too far to be sure of it. Lecter took a knife and opened the chest and stomach, Beverly couldn’t help but be stunned by his experienced gestures, it was almost scary. She was watching in horror, she couldn’t take her eyes off it as he was taking the organs he wanted. She couldn’t help but feel something familiar; it reminded her of her own job as a forensic, but in a very sick way.  Just like her, he wasn’t doing it in a personal way, it was strictly medical and the gestures were full of precision, it wasn’t the butchery she thought it would be. He was acting as if he was doing something...She couldn’t place it.

“With your experience of forensic, I am sure you would do this as well as me.”

She jumped out of surprise when he spoke and didn’t answer, she couldn’t say anything and her eyes were locked on the corpse. He put down the knife and walked to her. Though she didn’t move, she was scared. She was really scared. He undid the chain which was restraining her, Beverly suspected what he wanted to do already, and she knew she had to do this for Will, but everything in her was revolted by it. He lifted her by the armpits and forced her to walk to the corpse. When she was standing before it, Hannibal was behind her, embracing her, holding her hands, his mouth at her ear, he whispered.

“Look at it, Beverly, this is your world, just in a different perspective. What do you see?”

“A corpse.”

She leaned against him she didn’t want to fall on the floor. The sight before her was horrifying her, again it wasn’t because it was a corpse, it was the whole situation.

“That’s way too simplistic my dear. What do you see?”

The way her back was pressed against his chest painfully reminded her of moments when Will would hug her from behind. She kept her eyes of the lifeless man who hardly looked like a man anymore with his body open. It didn’t matter anymore to know who he was, he wasn’t anything anymore.

“Something empty.”

“Go on.”

“It’s...You emptied him, not only physically, you emptied him of all his humanity. All anyone can see now is what you did, not the man he was before.”

“Not bad. What else?”

“I...He is nothing but an object anymore.”

“No, it’s not that. What is the purpose?”

“Eat him? You need to treat him as cattle.”

She began to tremble, but Hannibal didn’t show any sign of stopping, she could hear in his voice some kind of enthusiasm.

“No, he was cattle to me already, I don’t need to do anything to see him as such.”

“You’re sick…”

“That’s debatable. You should count yourself lucky you have the chance to see something I wouldn’t show to anyone. So look! What else?”

“He is…It’s your design…”

She fell limp in his arms and he had to hold her tightly so she wouldn’t collapse. Hannibal carried her bridal style and led her to the mattress again. He slapped her face gently to make her regain consciousness and when she was awake again, he instructed her to continue to watch. She did, and as it continued, she had the impression he was emptying her too. She began to hear the music of the human violin; it was as if it was played right to her ear. It was matching Lecter’s moves perfectly.

* * *

 

What Beverly's kimono looks like:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to leave your comments, it's important for me to know what you think! I hope you liked it!


	7. Obsession, Will

Soon after Beverly’s kidnapping and fake death, Hannibal was having inspiration for his next murder, this one took time, he actually asked for Abigail’s help, the young woman didn’t kill anyone yet, but she already helped him with some corpses. Now his next murder would be soon discovered, his tree man as Abigail liked to call it. He was glad to have her around. He had many things to think about, getting Miriam brainwashed so he could never identify him, taking care of Beverly and his job at the FBI. He wasn’t receiving many patients anymore, yet he had a busy schedule, and Abigail was helpful, helping him with the house, the cooking and other tasks that would have required too much time.

Now thanks to her help, he would be able to present his next piece of art to the world. He would give a dinner party very soon to celebrate. He wondered if Jack would actually ask Graham for help, somehow he hoped he would. He didn’t have time to visit Will lately, but that didn’t mean he stopped thinking about him, far from it. Sometimes Hannibal wondered if Will was aware of the fact he haunted his thoughts. Probably not, but he would see that in due time, he would let him understand by offering him a new and better Beverly.

The woman was doing quite well, he was satisfied for now, the drugs were giving her intense and dark visions which were affecting her mind a lot. Yesterday she had one in which she was killing him with Will and said she felt not only relieved but righteous. Will used the same word after killing Hobbs. She was actually strong, in spite of the fact he was confusing her, drugging and manipulating her, she was still determined to save Will; she was ready to endure a lot for him. That was giving her a common point with Hannibal. He wondered what the profiler was trying to do to get free and save her.

However, among all the satisfaction he was getting, something recently happened that perturbed him. The moment he had shown Beverly the corpse, she reacted quite much as he wished, however, _his_ reaction had been unexpected. It was when she was pressed against him. The way he was pressed against her back, holding her hands and whispering at her ear had been very intimate and in a way he rarely felt in his life. It wasn’t only the close contact, but also the fact she was seeing what he was doing, and what she said. She didn’t understand his work already, but she was on the right way. This intimacy had been...He had felt intimacy with Abigail too while teaching her, but it wasn’t the same because they were like father and daughter. What he felt with Beverly was like what he was feeling with Will, only less intense. That’s why he didn’t push it far, he had felt like something was escaping him and he didn’t like it.

It was the same when he had made her drink his blood after drinking hers. There had been something he felt, he really enjoyed that moment. He knew he had to control his feelings; however, if he couldn’t enjoy his work, what was the point?

**OoO**

In Baltimore State Hospital, Abel Gideon was finally coming back. It had been a week since Chilton asked for his transfer, it hadn’t been as difficult as he expected, no one really wanted to keep the prisoner due to what he did in the past. Yet even if it had been quick, it had been like an eternity for Graham, who felt just powerless in that cell, unable to do anything, while Beverly was going through...God knew what she was going through.

Will’s frustration only grew after he had his first talk with Gideon, because it had been pretty fruitless. The only thing Abel did was to tell him that he should kill Hannibal Lecter. He would have loved indeed but it was out of question for now, because wherever Bev was, Hannibal was the only one who knew where she was and she probably depended on him for food and water. Killing Hannibal would probably be the death of Beverly and Graham couldn’t tolerate that. No. He had endangered her life once, he couldn’t do it twice.

Will understood he had to find another angle of conversation. He thought again, maybe he could scare him in another way. He had another idea, but he would need the help of Chilton. He didn’t doubt he would give it, after all it was also in his interest. 

He didn’t receive any visit from Jack, Alana or Lecter since some time, but he found himself pretty glad of it. Though he wanted to confront Hannibal badly, he knew it was wiser not to for now. He would do so, oh yes, but once he had proven Hannibal’s guilt and his own innocence, then he would make him talk, no matter what, and he would have Beverly back. He would also avenge Abigail’s death. Her loss had been hard, he hadn’t thought of it much since his woman had been captured, because saving her was all that mattered, but it was still hurting. It horrified him to imagine that he could lose his wife after losing the one he considered like his daughter.

One morning, the day after his first talk with Gideon, he was brought to see Chilton again, he could see that the man seemed preoccupied with something, probably the fact that his first try hadn’t been productive enough.

“You don’t seem to be that well today, Frederick.”

“Things are getting more and more confused, and I think that you might be right.”

“Didn’t you already think so? Otherwise why would you have put Gideon here?”

“I’m not talking about that.”

He stood up and walked closer to him, and hesitantly said:

“I think you might be right about Beverly Katz.”

This actually surprised Will and he felt a wave of relief and gratefulness toward Chilton, because right now he was the only person in the world beside him who still wanted to save her.

“Don’t think that I’m completely sure of it, I want you to remember that you might be having false hopes here but...If you are right, why does he do this?”

“Why does he do anything? It’s a game to him. He is playing with me, with you, with everyone. Beverly was loved by her colleagues, and she was loved by me. I told him about our relationship, that we planned to live together and marry, taking her has multiples advantages. I’m not sure yet but I know he has plans for her and me.”

“But where could he be keeping her? It would be probably too risky in his house. It’s now...Maybe ten days that she had been missing, wouldn’t someone have noticed something?”

“You know, we have many cases of people kidnapped and kept under everyone noses. Maybe he has a secondary location too, but I’m not sure. But doctor, for her survival and yours, don’t talk about her to Hannibal Lecter, he’ll probably kill one of you if he suspects anything. We must prove he is the killer before anything.”

Chilton nodded, it was maybe wiser indeed. He had been invited to a dinner by Hannibal yesterday and he was glad he couldn’t eat any meat anymore..

 “You have to talk with Gideon again then,” Chilton said.

“I have an idea for that, could you put Gideon in the cell next to mine? I could probably do better if the man is permanently at my side.”

“Indeed. At the moment you make him say something interesting, I brought it to Jack Crawford...We will have him, and if you’re right, we will save her.”

“There are many ways to take away one’s life without killing them. She’ll probably never be the same.”

Frederick didn’t know what to say at this, because he was also pretty sure that Beverly Katz wouldn’t come out of this experience unscathed. For a brief moment, Chilton wondered if it wouldn’t have been better for her to be killed quickly. He rejected this idea yet, if she was alive she wasn’t doomed already, she still had hopes. He didn’t know Beverly Katz personally but he wasn’t devoid of sympathy for another human being in danger. He quickly arranged Gideon’s transfer in the cell next to Will and the next round was starting.

The man hadn’t been easy to break; it took him four days to finally spill out something. He teased Will once or twice about Beverly, but Graham kept his self-control even if he was so angry he could have killed Gideon. _I am so sorry for your loss Will, it seems that your pretty fiancée won’t visit you again. I heard she was quite lovely. It’s sad that the Ripper damaged her that way, some men really don’t know how to respect a lady._ He had the impression that Beverly was hearing those words too, and it was just fuelling a rage he had to swallow up. He wouldn’t come out of this unscathed either, yet he wouldn’t stop, not until he finally found her. He would keep telling him that Hannibal would probably kill him for being so close to him and that even here he was able to reach his next prey. Frederick was listening to that patiently when he finally heard something interesting: Gideon describing Lecter’s home. This was proof he went there, and it would be enough to rose suspicions.

No time was lost and Chilton immediately went to Crawford as soon as he heard this. Beverly Katz was now missing since two weeks. While Jack accepted to listen to him, he was still unwilling to consider the idea. 

“Abel Gideon is delusional.”

“He is psychotic but not psychic, and he gave a pretty good description of the house.”

“He is sensitive to suggestion, we know that.”

“Or the simplest explanation as to why he can describe Lecter’s home, is that he was in Lecter’s home.”

“Will Graham could have given him details.

“No details was given, I recorded every single words those two exchanged, and I heard everything they said.”

Jack sighed at this, for some reason he didn’t like it one bit. He didn’t want to give Will or himself any false hope and torment an innocent man just for a piece of conversation that he didn’t even really see as suspicious.

 “So you believe him? You think Graham is right about Hannibal Lecter being the Chesapeake Ripper.”

Chilton didn’t hesitate much. He knew the answer already.

“Yes, I believe him.”

“Will Graham is delusional.”

“Doesn’t mean he is necessarily wrong, or a killer. Jack, since I have him in my hospital, he hadn’t been violent once, even after being operated with his encephalitis he should have shown traces of this violent behaviour, but he didn’t. It doesn’t fit.”

“Do you also believe what he says about his fiancée?”

“I don’t have an opinion about this for now. But before talking about her, we should focus on Hannibal.”

Chilton wasn’t sincere, but he knew that he couldn’t talk about his suspicions about Beverly’s fake death now, it was way too soon, and Jack was already being stubborn.

“He fits the profile, check it again and you will see that he really does, more than Will Graham. It would be narrow not to consider it.”

Jack remained silent for a short moment. Everything Chilton said was making him doubt, he was right, he couldn’t let this pass, even if the conversation between Gideon and Will didn’t prove anything, it was suspicious.

“I’ll talk with Gideon and Will Graham. I need to hear what they have to say.”

“Whenever you want.”

“I’ll go tomorrow. For now, I have a case that is waiting for me.”

Even though Chilton wished to urge to go now, he knew he had to be patient because a woman was in danger while a man probably innocent was rotting in jail. He felt that he installed doubt in Jack’s mind; now maybe he would finally do what was needed. All he hoped right now was that the man wouldn’t delay it.

The next day Chilton’s hope weren’t deceived. Crawford came indeed to speak with both prisoners. He started with Gideon who denied everything and pretended that Chilton was encouraging both him and Graham to believe that Hannibal was guilty. He even hinted that Chilton could be the ripper.

“May I remind you that it’s the second time Dr Chilton is pointing at someone? And he is still influencing his prisoners to do the same. You have the right box, but you’re looking at the wrong corner.”

Jack didn’t stay long however, and didn’t really listened. He asked Chilton to let him speak with Graham alone, stating he would join him soon to resume his conclusions with him. Hearing Gideon deny everything actually made Jack’s suspicions rise again. He would investigate Hannibal, but he didn’t want to tell Will any of it. If he was wrong, he didn’t want to comfort him in his delusion. He would pretext to come to him about the tree man, it was all for the best. Maybe he would also try to talk about Beverly. Everyone was sad about what happen, Price and Zeller were really missing her, even if they wouldn’t show it anymore. Yet Jack could feel it. What Graham felt was probably unbearable. He hoped that Will accepted the fact she was dead. It would be better. 

In his cell, Will was waiting for whoever wanted to speak to him; he was told he would receive a visit, but not the identity of this very visitor. He bet it would be Crawford, he was pretty sure that Chilton contacted him already, and now maybe Jack would actually listen. He heard footsteps and saw that he was right, it was him indeed.

“You seem to feel an inner conflict, Jack. I can see it from here.”

“I’m here to talk about the Chesapeake Ripper, Will. Someone else was killed.”

“I didn’t hear of that. I don’t hear of much here. What makes you think it’s the Ripper?”

“The way he was killed corresponds. The victim’s guts were taken away from his body and replaced by flowers, and the rest of his body was arranged to make a tree. No traces were found. It’s obviously the Ripper’s work. I would like your help.”

“You know who I’m thinking about Jack, I’ve been telling you since the beginning. You just won’t listen.”

Not wanting to show his suspicions already, Jack feigned annoyance.

“Don’t say Hannibal Lecter again.”

At this, Will felt a wave of pure rage; he had to dig his nails into his palms not to burst in anger. How could that man be so stupid?! Whatever he would say, he just refused to believe him, it was his entire fault too, if Beverly didn’t go to him, it’s because she couldn’t trust him! Yet he was obliged to convince this idiot if he ever wanted to see her again, so he swallowed back his boiling anger and continued calmly:

“I’m saying it again and you should listen to me. Not only that, you should really reconsider some things Jack; you aren’t asking yourself the right questions.”

“Which are the right questions?”

“What does he do Jack? What is the principle thing he does? Why does he need to kill?

“He harvests organs.”

Another wave of rage hit Will; Jack was being so dense right now! He had seen the man in other situations, and he could be brilliant! But here it seemed like he enjoyed being an idiot. He kept his calm though. He decided to pass his nerves by toying a little with him. If that dumbass wanted to be played with, so be it.

“No, that’s just the action. He kills three or four people in quick order, do you know why? Because I do,” Will said tauntingly.

He was satisfied to see that Jack seemed annoyed by what he was doing and a little creped out as well.

“Tell me.”

“If he waits too long, the meat gets spoiled.”

“He eats them? Hannibal eats them? He is a cannibal like Garett Jacob Hobbs?”

“No, Hobbs loved his victims and honoured them; the Ripper eats his victims because he doesn’t consider them better than pigs.”

“Will...With the exception of Beverly, no connection was made between the victims and Hannibal.”

Will’s face twitched as he heard her name, and Jack hated that, he didn’t want to remind him of what happened but he couldn’t do otherwise but point that evidence.

“Will, I know this is hard...”

“No immediate connection was made,” Will said while interrupting him. “You said the Ripper killed again? Well you can be sure Hannibal will host a dinner party very soon. We probably eat the people we were investigating about without knowing it, Jack. What else do you need?”

Jack approached him a little more, having trouble hiding what he was really thinking. Hannibal indeed said he would host a dinner party soon, he even invited him. Now he couldn’t deny it was suspicious anymore. He would do what was needed, but he didn’t want to tell him yet, he couldn’t give him false hope. Taking a deep breath, he went back to what he wanted to speak about but didn’t dare until now.

“Will, about Beverly...”

“Don’t!”

“Do you still believe her to be alive?”

“Does my answer matters? You already have yours. Go investigate, leave me alone.”

For once, Crawford didn’t try to insist, the pain in Will’s voice was obvious. He returned to Chilton soon enough.

“So, what do you think agent Crawford?”

“Are you aware of what Graham accuses Lecter to be?”

“About cannibalism? Oh yes, and I’m glad I have a good excuses not to eat meat anymore. You know he joked once about eating my tongue. Plus to me the fact Gideon is lying just proves that Will Graham is right.”

 “Yes. Hannibal is having a dinner party tonight; I’ll go and investigate samples.”

“Alright, I’ll come as well.”

“Why?”

“I can’t let him know I have doubts. I don’t want him to see me as a threat. But I don’t think we should take to each others.”

They both agreed on this and Jack left a satisfied Frederick. Those results were good; with some luck maybe Crawford would have some proof. On his side, he would try not to appear suspicious.

Meanwhile, unaware of what Jack and Chilton were planning, Will was still in his cell, waiting, dreaming and hoping. If there was something no one could take right now it was hope, even if it was a blurry, confused hope, he still had that. His hope right now was to find his beloved alive and be her husband for real, no matter how he would find her. He would marry her, if he could find her, he would ask again for her hand and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t say no. It was one of the very few things he was certain about. A part of him knew that it was starting to be an obsession, but he didn’t care. He was treated like a delusional man, like a murderer, so no one had the right to forbid him to obsess over her and the man who had her in his clutches, because for now, it was his relief.

He had felt Jack’s certainty was starting to crumble, but he didn’t want to think about him right now, he had way too many anger in him right now, instead he was just thinking of her, of their life together. He remembered the time they spent together in the house, sometimes just watching TV, cooking, or talking around a drink. She started to play violin again, Will offered her one. She wasn’t the best player ever, but he still loved to hear her. What wouldn’t he give to have this again? He wondered what she was thinking about now. Wherever she was, she was probably laying in wait. Was she looking at a ceiling, thinking about him and what they shared? Was she struggling to survive or was she okay? Was she trying to fool Hannibal or did she surrender already? Did she know she was supposed to be dead? If it was the case, did she know he was doing everything he could to save her because he never believed Lecter’s lies? It was almost painful not to have the answer. He hoped he would find her before it was too late.


	8. Wonderland, Beverly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the new chapter, I know this fic doesn't have much readers, but I enjoy writing it, and I hope you'll enjoy it too!

Abigail Hobbs was cleaning the dishes for Hannibal; he had a lot of work to do, so she was more than willing to help with some of the chores. She had already gone to buy some clothes for Beverly, far from Baltimore of course. While she was doing that, he was in town, hosting a dinner party, she wondered how it was going. It was probably being fine, in fact everything he planned recently was settling pretty well, Beverly was doing good with her therapy, and Miriam Lass was ready to play her part. She knew what he intended to make her do: make the Ripper out of Frederick Chilton.

The man had suspicions and therefore could be dangerous. She was actually feeling quite impressed at Chilton for that, he was the only one listening to Will right now, the only one to suspect the truth, and for that he deserved admiration. But it would come with a high price. He wouldn’t be as lucky as her. She hoped Will and Beverly would understand the gift that was given to them by Hannibal. They were lost for now, and she could do anything but sympathize, that’s why she hoped it wouldn’t be too long anymore. At least Will wouldn’t endure jail any longer after that night.

Two weeks ago, when Hannibal told her he had Beverly in his hands, he hesitated between killing and keeping her. Abigail promptly told him it was better to have her alive. The world he was creating could be also good for four and Will would only be happier with her at their sides. She would also be happier, she liked Beverly Katz and she didn’t want to see her die. Lecter finally agreed that he should give her a chance. She had been happy, she was impatient to finally approach her, for now Hannibal didn’t want her to come around the prisoner, it would be a surprise for later. So she just wouldn’t come in the basement and wouldn’t be around when he would take her to a shower.

The day she met agent Katz came into her mind, it had been quite nice.

_She was in her room, bored. She knew Will would come soon and she was waiting for him eagerly. He was one of the only people she really longed to see. This woman Freddie Lounds said he was insane but she couldn’t believe that. When she heard him knocking at the door, she smiled and when she saw a woman with him, she wondered who she was. She hoped she wasn’t another doctor like Alana Bloom._

_“Hi Abigail. Hum...I would you like to meet Beverly Katz, my girlfriend.”_

_The woman smiled to her and shook her hand. By the way Will and she looked at each other, Abigail could have told that there was something between them without having him to say it. She wasn’t sure why he was introducing her to his girlfriend but she felt like it was important to him._

_“Hello, I’m Abigail Hobbs, but I guess you know that already.”_

_“Indeed, Will told me about you and I saw you at hospital, but you were still in a comate.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Yes, that’s why I was curious to meet you.”_

_“Curious, like curious to meet the newest subject of gossip in psychiatry?” She asked in a half bitter half amused tone._

_“Nah, I’m not a shrink or a profiler, I’m a forensic. I just wanted to know a little more the girl who made Will and I date in hospital.”_

_Abigail smiled, quite relieved that she wasn’t another doctor or reporter, it would be a good change. The three of them sat on the bed._

_“That was probably not the most romantic setting indeed,” Abigail said._

_“I thought it would be, given that she is a forensic,” Will said jokingly_

_“Oh it really was, I want to spend our honeymoon in a hospital.”_

_“You’re gonna marry?”_

_Will nodded as Beverly showed her ring, not without pride._

_“We don’t know when yet, it’s recent,” Will explained. “We haven’t made any plans actually.”_

_“No, but I think none of us is so good at this,” Bev admitted._

_“I guess I should have some plans too,” Abigail said, “it’s cool you’re getting married.”_

_She sincerely thought it, it was good to see some happiness, even if she felt envious at it. The rest f the conversation went pretty well, and Abigail soon felt comfortable with the two. She decided she wouldn’t mind seeing Beverly Katz again._

She killed Nicholas Boyle the day after. Will and Hannibal decided not to tell on her. Everything was tormenting her then, her father, her dead friend, the guilt and now Boyle. So when Beverly Katz came to see her, she was glad of it because she wasn’t analysing her like many. She appreciated her compassionate and honest personality; she was pretty much like Will for that, she was just livelier while Will was more serious. She was making her feel a little better, without trying too much to comfort her like Alana Bloom would, and it was actually soothing.

Now she wished she could help her too but it wasn’t the right time. To tell the truth she was also impatient to participate in her rebirth, as Hannibal called it, she was already having her own, and it would be great to see someone else transform too. Days had passed since the first time Hannibal gave Beverly hallucinogens, and she had other ‘sessions’ since then, Abigail was now getting used to hear her scream or babble incoherently, but she would never open the door, Hannibal was strict on that, Beverly had to be left alone during those moments.

Once she finished the dishes, she prepared a simple salad for Beverly, she would need to eat. She entered the basement very silently and saw Beverly was hardly conscious. She put the plate near her and left immediately. She was only allowed to approach her when she was unconscious. Once she was done with the tasks, she went to bed.

She knew Hannibal wouldn’t come home tonight. He warned her, he needed an alibi, and apparently Alana Bloom would be useful for that. She wished she had been around to watch. Hannibal told her: it was the night he would do the final steps to free Will. She was impatient; she wanted to see him again.

 

**O o O**

In the basement, Beverly was waking up. She had been completely unaware of Abigail’s presence. Anyway, she wasn’t even really aware of anything around her, she had the impression to be in a fog, and she knew she would get her senses back, she was starting to get used to some of the ways the drugs could make her feel. She was numb and shivering, she was hearing some weird noises and wondered if those were real or part of the hallucinations, she could hear incoherent voices, and things around her had an unnatural form, she knew she just had to wait for it to cease, but somehow, she was finding some kind of strange logic in this moment between complete delirium and reality, sometimes it was hard to tell when she was out of it.

The voices were incoherent but she had a feeling those were meant to be there, and she could somehow understand why they were talking, she couldn’t decipher what they were saying exactly, but it was as if she could _feel_ what their conversation was about, without being able to really give it a sense. Even the sounds and the distorted images had some reasons to be, some strange logic she couldn’t really find, but she knew existed, and she wasn’t feeling actually too bad in this alien world. The numb state she was in was somehow strangely comfortable. It was like lying in your own blood and not caring anymore about what could happen, just watching things go on numbly.

The sensation started to fade more and more, her surroundings were becoming clearer and all the aliens sounds faded. She ignored how long her delirium would last each time it happened. Everything was such a blur, it seemed it had no beginning and no end...All she could hold on was the possibility to save Will, that he was still alive and that Hannibal would indeed let him out.

Actually, while a part of her feared those hallucinations, another longed for it. Her reason was telling her it was dangerous, but her heart and her bolder side were telling her that it was worth it, first because the more she was doing this, the more she felt a sick fascination for that weird world, it was like exploring something in her that she didn’t know, getting out of reality like Alice in Wonderland. Second, because she would still see Will each time.

It was still so comforting to see him, even when she would see him killing someone. Several time she saw him playing human violin again, it was something recurring, this music was something she would hear often, even when she was wide awake. The best moment had been when she had seen him approach her, telling her they would marry very soon, far from everything, in a field far away from all the people who tried to tear them apart. She saw their wedding in a church in the middle of a field filled with flowers; she saw both of them happy, Will still so handsome and livelier than ever. It had been hard when the vision faded away and she realised she was still not married, but she didn’t regret seeing this. If they could make it out alive, if they escaped, they would marry, she was pretty sure he wanted the same thing.

She remembered that once, way before her kidnapping, Will had tell her that during the case he could envision himself being the killer, doing everything himself. Back then, she couldn’t imagine what it was like but now she could. Her last vision had shown him killing again, he was killing Jack Crawford this time and she liked it in her delirium. She rejoiced because Jack hurt him so much. But Jack stood up again, not so dead, and then, it wasn’t Will but her who stood up and took the knife to kill the man. It wasn’t like looking at another her killing Jack, no it was her, it was _her hands_ holding the knife. It had been so strange, as if she was doing it, as if she tasted this sensation of committing murder, she was immersed in it while being still conscious that it wasn’t real. And a part of her liked it.

She had the sensation to slip into someone else’s head, just like Will was doing, just as he described her sometimes. Except it was all in her own head. Everyone had dark and forbidden thoughts, she knew it and she was no exception, but until now, she never thought it would have been...That much. She never thought her mind could have shown her such sinister things, and she never thought she could find any kind of enjoyment in some of it. Some days ago, she felt she was taking a peek at the dark world Will could already see, that she was brushing it. Now she starting to get engulfed in and it was attractive because she was like waking up, and she could understand the man she loved in a better way.

She was pretty sure this fascination was here since she saw Hannibal cut a corpse. It had been disturbing on many levels, and she feared he would do it again. It wasn’t so much the gore, she was used to see horrible things, it was just the way he treated them. But once again, his gestures had been so close to hers when she was working. Beverly wanted to keep in mind that it wasn’t the same, she hadn’t been the one killing the people she worked on, yet she couldn’t help but feel the similarities. She was also disturbed at the fact she saw it actually happen, it was like when she reconstructed events by looking at the corpses at the morgue, but this time she saw it, she saw the killer, it was like going the other side of the veil brutally. 

She pushed those thoughts away. When her mind was completely clear she saw a big salad at her side, she didn’t know since how long it was here, in fact she didn’t know if it was really a good hour to eat, but it didn’t matter so much anymore, she wasn’t feeling like eating anyway. She remembered Will’s irregular habits with eating, it was quite getting on her nerves, and thank god he corrected that quickly enough. It seemed so far away now...She stood up because she was quite tired to sit or lay, but she almost fell when she did so. Lecter had removed blood from her system again, he had done so several times, he would never take too much but it would just leave her weakened. The chain was almost useless now.

In spite of her weakness, she did some exercises. As usual, she did it slowly; not pushing herself too far; it would just make her dizzier otherwise. When some she was done with her stretching and working out, she felt some appetite back, and started to eat. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as what she got yesterday. It was strange because it didn’t seem likely for Hannibal to neglect his cooking.

In fact she had reflected over the fact that while some of her dishes were really refined, other were plainer, as if...As if some of those were prepared by a chief and others by...By an apprentice. Beverly was not a profiler; she was actually a scientist more than an investigator but she realised she missed a clue here. This hadn’t been cooked by Hannibal, the man wouldn’t neglect details, even for a prisoner. Then maybe he just ordered those? No, she was in a secondary location, an isolated place for what she saw, he wouldn’t let anyone come near this house, he had it to be left alone for some dirty business, like locking up someone. Then maybe he bought it in town? Or...Or maybe he had an accomplice.

Strangely, she never considered that, maybe because she never saw him with any friend of his, maybe because Will never spoke of this possibility, or maybe because he was always alone when he would come to see her, but it wasn’t impossible. She looked at what remained of her salad and wondered who the hell did this. It was vegetarian because she refused any meat, if this accomplice prepared this, it was especially for her. This person knew she was here and did this while thinking about her. It was somehow making her feel weird, uncomfortable. Yet she forced herself to eat. She had to keep strong. She slept right after. She didn’t know when Lecter intended to come, but she didn’t want to be too weakened.

During what she assumed was the next morning, Lecter came and paid her a visit. He had eggs and toasts, so she assumed it was morning. Beverly wasn’t feeling afraid anymore, she knew she had to be cautious, but she was aware he wouldn’t hurt her unless it was necessary, he would have probably considered it as a rude thing to do. She was more at ease when she would talk to him; he wouldn’t make her cringe anymore. Maybe it was also a part of her change; she didn’t fear Hannibal anymore because she was getting acquainted.

“Hello Doctor.”

“Hello Beverly. I hope your last session wasn’t too exhausting.”

“No more than usual.”

She was forcing herself to be polite, she was doing this for Will and she also wished to know more about this accomplice, if there really was one.

“Good. Have your meal first, we’ll discuss once you’re done.”

She nodded and did as such, once she was done she thanked him and they began to speak. He was sitting in a chair, while she was sitting in the mattress, making her look up at him, probably to give him a sense of domination.

“So what did you saw last time?”

“I...There was several things...First blurry shadows coming out of everywhere, strange voices, I couldn’t really hear them, but they weren’t talking to me anyway. Then I saw...I saw Will killing Jack Crawford, but even after that, Jack stood up again, and this time...It was me who killed him.”

“How did you do it?”

“With a knife. I stabbed him several times. I could see the blood on my hands.”

“If I recall, you also dreamed of killing me with Will in another vision.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t the same, I wasn’t so close, I was watching me and Will like you would watch an old movie of you, I was just seeing another me do it. Here it was really me. I was standing up, taking the knife and I killed him.”

“How did that make you feel? With me it make you feel righteous, relieved. How was it with Jack?”

She wasn’t sure about it, but he would know if she lied anyway. He would mess up her head whatever she did. Plus she needed to talk to someone about it. Even if this someone was the Devil himself, she couldn’t remain alone in her head. The need to tell someone was strong; she needed to let it out.

“It was also righteous. But even more intense, because it was really I and...Will told me once how he would feel when empathizing with killers, and I think... I think I felt a little like that. I mean I’ll never have the talent he has for empathy, I could never guess the personality of a killer as he does, but...I felt like I knew what it was like to kill someone. I felt powerful.”

Hannibal held back a smile, he wanted to appear neutral, but he was actually very satisfied. This was what he aimed for; she was on the good way. The first time, she had dreamed about killing in a more righteous anger, now she had dreamed of killing someone good like Jack, and felt powerful for it. He was aware she was cooperating for Will and probably because she hoped to escape, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t lying here, she wasn’t a good liar, he would have seen it if she was faking. She was succumbing.

“Why do you think it was Jack?”

“Because I’m angry at him, and you know why I am.”

“Yes, and you have every right to be. Just as you have the right to be angry at me.”

“Don’t you consider you are doing me a favour?,”

“Oh I am. And I think you already know that. But it’s also normal for you to be angry for now. I took away your and Will’s life and left you with emptiness. But it’s necessary to fill your life with something else, and once I’ll let you saw it, once you’ll have your new life, you’ll forgive me, both of you.”

“So...Will is still in jail?”

“I need some more time, but it shouldn’t be long anymore. But I didn’t saw him lately. I have been busy preparing his way out.”

She nodded and decided to finally ask her question.

“Is someone helping you?”

Though he kept a poker face, this interested him. He wondered if she would figure out or not, it wasn’t possible to hear what would happen in the house from here, so how did she knew?

“Why do you think this?”

“Well, I noticed something about the salad. There are times you give me really refined meals, but this one was plainer, and it’s not the first one. I don’t think you ordered or bought those however.”

“Maybe I was just too tired to give you something elaborated.”

“No offense but I think you would rather have me starve rather than giving me something you don’t judge worthy of your talent.”

This actually made him smile, it wasn’t untrue. She got a good point on that. Not that she had a deep understanding of his mind, she was far from that, but he had to give her the credit of being pertinent here.

“You’re right. Someone made it for you, someone else knows you’re here.”

“Who?”

“Oh I’m not telling, you have to guess, you won’t get any better if I tell you.”

She looked disappointed, and he actually felt like giving her something back, something he intended to tell her anyway, but he was waiting for the right moment. Now was a good moment.

“But for your first discovery, I’m rewarding you. I can tell you one thing about Will, something you might suspect already: he guessed you are here, he doesn’t believe you dead.”

At this, her face looked livelier, she looked relieved and happy for the first time she was here. She actually wondered many times if Will suspected something but when she asked the doctor he refused to answer. She hoped he wasn’t lying, she hoped Will was still trying to find her.  

“He is the only one however,” Hannibal added.

“I would have guessed that, why would anyone listen to someone delusional and in jail for murders?”

“Indeed. Now, I would like us to talk about your visions again.”

She nodded, knowing she wouldn’t get more. It was already good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it, I love writing about Beverly slowly plunging into madness. Now let's hope Will will be able to free her before she actually goes completely crazy! Don't hesitate to tell me what you think, constructive criticism are always appreciated.


	9. Confrontation, Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, here is the new chapter, this one was quite long to write because I had to rewatch some episodes to write it correctly. Enjoy!

Hannibal’s dinner party was over and Alana Bloom would stay, just as he wished. Jack came in and took samples of food, acting really obvious, as well as Frederick Chilton. They would be really disappointed to discover that it was only beef, but Jack would soon have a consolation lot with Miriam Lass. He wondered how much time it would take him to discover the place where he hid her. He didn’t have any problem seducing Alana. Sleeping with her had been enjoyable, but there was something missing. In spite of the respect he could feel for her, his former student was overestimating her intelligence, and he didn’t have any real feeling for her. Yet he was the best at faking it.

She wasn’t aware that he actually drugged her during the night; she would never know he left her. He would find his next prey: Abel Gideon; then with his death he would do something he longed to do: free Will Graham. The battle of wits would never be more intense, Graham knew Beverly was still alive, he would do anything to have her back, Hannibal would just have to make it clear that physical violence would never help.

He would go to hospital, Gideon was there, he had been beaten badly by prison guards, and he had been transferred, he would only be watched by one or two cops.

Once at the hospital, Lecter knew exactly what to do, it had been planned carefully. He already had an outfit to enter the hospital; he went to Gideon’s room. The silence here would have been oppressing for anyone else, all you could hear was dull sounds of machines or soft breathing of the patient sleeping. To Hannibal however, it was just perfect; it was as if the place was just waiting for him to accomplish his work, exactly like a silent audience would wait for performers.

He first killed the young policeman who was supposed to guard the prisoner, he was half-asleep, it was almost too easy. When he finally was in the room, he took his time to open the curtain; he could hear Gideon’s ragged breathing and smell his fear. It was enjoyable. When he finally let his victim saw him, the man looked scared but resigned; he knew there was no hope anymore.

“Hello Doctor.”

The rest was simple, he put Gideon asleep, put him in a chariot an after that arranged the policeman’s corpse in a way that wouldn’t leave any doubt about who the killer was. It was a young man, healthy and fit, his meat would be tasty, maybe even more than Gideon’s, though eating the last one would give more pleasure because of everything that happened. He would assert his dominance over another killer. He carefully placed every flies with the remains of some of the Ripper and the Copycat’s victims, it would be enough to innocent Will and he finally left with his next meal.

Cooking Gideon would be a pleasure. It was a shame Beverly didn’t want to eat any meat, but Abigail would enjoy it. The young girl was aware of Hannibal’s true nature and embraced that already. She would perfectly know who she was eating and would enjoy that. She truly was his daughter and soon enough, she would have another father, and maybe a mother with Beverly. He perfectly knew Abigail longed for a feminine figure, she told him once she enjoyed agent Katz’s company more than Alana’s one.

Once he had Gideon locked, he returned in the bed next to Alana and slept. He needed some rest; the last days asked a lot of him even if the entertainment was worth it.

 

**O o O**

While Hannibal was resting, things went exactly as he settled. Jack discovered the evidences and finally understood that Will never killed anyone and the Copycat never existed. Hannibal had left on the policeman’s corpse bits of bark from a tree which was very rare on the East Coast and you could only found it in one place.

Jack went to that place; he wasn’t surprised to find that this was a spot the Ripper used once. However, when he opened a trap and saw a very alive Miriam Lass, Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. In one day, the two people he failed to protect, Will Graham and Miriam Lass, were given back to him. Though those events were all laced with horrible tragedy, Jack was happy. Neither Will nor Miriam would come out of this unscathed, but they could always fix this, they were alive, so they could fix it.

Guilt followed soon enough. He should have known, he should have kept faith. While Miriam Lass would be examined and taken care of, the proofs about Will’s innocence were being sent to the new judge in order to have him released.

To be sure Hannibal wasn’t the Ripper he showed him to Miriam, but she failed to recognize him and affirmed he wasn’t the man who took her. This ended Jack’s suspicions about Hannibal. He didn’t want to suspect him anymore now because he already wronged Will that way, he didn’t want another innocent man to be dragged in the mud because of the Ripper.

It took some days to investigate the new evidences that Graham was innocent, but Jack did as quickly as he could to have him released. He owed that to him.

 

**O o O**

It was Frederick Chilton who announced Will that he wasn’t suspected of anything anymore, but neither was Lecter.  Though Will was upset to hear Jack wasn’t suspecting Hannibal, he was feeling more alive than ever. He was finally free and he would finally have much more ways to find Beverly. He knew it would be complicated; now that Jack rejected again the idea that Lecter could be a suspect, but at least he could move around and confront the doctor. He was given his clothes back, and when he stepped out of his cell, he felt ready to fight. Chilton didn’t look really enthusiastic, though he was happy for Graham.

“I don’t know what I wouldn’t give to see Hannibal switches places with you right now,” the man was saying.

“I don’t know what I wouldn’t give to make him say where she is,” Will answered.

“We will prove he is the Ripper and I’m sure you’ll find your fiancée.”

“If I were you, I would be very cautious. I’m pretty sure you are his next prey. If you don’t want to end up like Gideon, you should confess.”

“Confess?”

“That you and Doctor Lecter both used suggestion and coercive methods. If you do, you might throw suspicions on him.”

“I can’t, that would ruin my career.”

“He will do worse than that. Listen to me, please, before it’s too late.”

He was saying this genuinely. In spite of everything he did, in spite of all his flaws, Chilton was the only one who listened to him and helped after she disappeared. He was the only one believing Beverly was still alive and for that he would be always thankful. But the man was stubborn. As he exited the corridor, Chilton asked him something:

“Why doesn’t he kill you simply? Why didn’t he kill her?”

“Because he wants to be my friend.”

The answer was simple yet so complicated. It was the key and the lock, it was Lecter’s weakness and it was what doomed him and Bev in the first place.

He definitely intended to go and confront Hannibal as soon as he was out, and he was so deep in those thoughts that it surprised him to see Jack Crawford. He wasn’t thinking someone would come for him, or maybe Alana, but not Jack.

“Do you need a ride?”

“I was going to call a cab. What are you doing here?”

He didn’t know what to feel about Jack right now, he was really angry at him for everything that happened but a part of him still knew Jack never meant to hurt him. He perfectly knew what he was doing here, he was feeling guilty and wanted to make amend, Will was asking only to show him he wasn’t welcome.

“I found Miriam Lass alive. And she thanked me for never losing faith…But I did. I stopped searching for her, and I thought you were delusional...”

“You didn’t lose faith in us only. You lost faith on Beverly.”

“Will, we found her corpse and blood on the crime scene.”

“You are getting fooled by appearances.”

“I know you are not delusional Will, but I think pain is making you way too partial. I understand, I would react the same way if I were you.”

Will understood it was useless, Jack just couldn’t believe she was alive and he couldn’t risk appearing delusional again by claiming that the woman he loved was still alive in spite of everyone’s belief. He would still try to convince him of Hannibal’s guilt, but in the meantime, Beverly’s survival would depend on him and her only. And Hannibal. Always Hannibal.

“Chilton told me you still think Hannibal is not the Ripper?”

“I showed him to Miriam Lass, she is positive it’s not him.”

“Show me where he worked.”

“You don’t need that now.”

“Oh I do, Jack. You owe me that, if you are right, then he killed Beverly, he killed my woman and I have to work on that.”

Once again evoking Beverly and his pain made Jack accept what he wanted, it wouldn’t be as hard as the first time when he brought him all restrained to Beverly’s burned body, now he was a free man. Crawford wished him to rest at first, but he knew Will wouldn’t accept, he needed this to get better. Fine, if this could help him.

Going on a crime scene again was weird for Will. For a moment he felt a thug at his heart, because he remembered how he and Beverly would see each other here, each time they had to be professional and of course they wouldn’t act romantic on a crime scene. But it was always good to work with her. When he came here, he felt empty, but this feeling was soon replaced by some kind of thrill.

This was a part of Lecter here. No one but him could read it, but it was a piece of his methodical and barbaric mind. He immediately asked Jack if they found any of Beverly’s remain, but they didn’t. This only persuaded Will even more that Beverly was alive. There were many remains of many of the Ripper’s victims but not hers. That was because she wasn’t really a victim, no, not yet. He saw the well in which Miriam was held captive. He closed his eyes and used his mind.

He saw why the Ripper locked Miriam in there. Poor girl had been imprisoned for so long with him...Beverly would not go through that, he swore it, she wouldn’t have to wait so long. She wouldn’t have to wait for Hannibal’s will to free her...He turned to Jack.

“He never intended to kill Miriam Lass; he wanted you to find her.”

“The Ripper wouldn’t do something like that; he doesn’t want to get caught.”

“No, he wants you to accuse someone else. Just like you accused me. I bet you will find something here that will lead you away from Hannibal Lecter.”

“Miriam Lass already did.”

“She got Hannibal in her head for two years, that’s a hell of a time. You can’t trust her.”

Jack sighed. Maybe Will was right. He would keep that in mind.

“Come on, now you need to go home. Your dogs are waiting for them, Alana took care of them.”

Will nodded and felt indeed the urge to see his dogs, because he knew that at least they wouldn’t deceive him. For the first time since Beverly disappeared, he felt a spark of joy when he reached his home and saw the dogs running at him. They were just happy, innocent creatures which ignored everything of the horrors to come. Alana was here. She apologized for not believing him, she said she was sorry for everything he endured and for a moment he didn’t feel angry at her anymore, until she said he was wrong about Hannibal.

“I know you still think it’s him, but I assure you he did nothing. He is your friend.”

Did she have to be that naive? He always felt friendship for her, at a time he even had a thing for her until Beverly came. But now...He didn’t hate her, he didn’t want her to suffer, but most of his friendship seemed void now.

“You’re the one who don’t see things clearly. Hannibal is dangerous; you should keep away from him.”

The way she looked embarrassed made him understand immediately.

“You’re sleeping with him?”

“We are in a relationship. I’m close to him, so I know who he is.”

“Oh no you’re not, that’s what he wants you to believe.”

Alana wouldn’t listen. Thankfully she didn’t stay for long and once she was gone, Will took his gun back. His next step would be a little visit to doctor Lecter.

Entering Hannibal’s home had been easy. Will waited in the shadow for him to come back. It wasn’t long, and he didn’t even need to make a sound to let his enemy know he was here, because he could smell it like a shark could smell blood.

“Will. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Without a word, Graham raised his gun and he was very satisfied to see his enemy flinch, for once, Hannibal wasn’t the only one in control.

“The last time we were in a kitchen, things were pretty similar. Only now Jack Crawford isn’t here,” Will pointed out.

“Indeed. You wanted answers back then. Now I guess you still want some.”

“Where is she?”

“You think Beverly is still alive and that I got her. If it’s the case, killing me is probably not the smartest thing to do.”

“Last time you asked me if killing you would feel good. I can tell you it would right now.”

“But as good as it could feel, you lose whatever happens. If you’re wrong, you’re killing an innocent man. If you’re right, you’re killing the Ripper, and then who will tell you where to find her? The ripper wouldn’t be sloppy enough to put her in an easy place to find.”

“So she is alive?”

Hannibal seemed to hesitate before answering that, and once again, he gave him one of his seemingly confusing answers.

“Whatever reasons you have to believe she is, I’m sure they are good.”

 “Did she find you the same way Miriam Lass did?”

“If I was the Ripper, I would have made both ways disappear.”

Will knew it was true. He approached with his gun still pointed to Hannibal’s head, the man closed his eyes, waiting. Graham knew he was right, he couldn’t kill him, and violence wouldn’t make Hannibal answer, he had to enter his head, to know what he wanted. _Whatever reasons you have to believe she is, I’m sure they are good_. He eventually left without a word. He wasn’t sure what he expected from this little encounter, but he needed to spite all his anger, to see the man under his threat.

_That was just a loss of time, you need to do something meaningful to find her!_

It was frustrating because he couldn’t lose time but on the other hand, he couldn’t afford to be too reckless, he needed to take his time. He tried to reassure himself. He was pretty sure Beverly wasn’t dead, whatever she was doing right now she was being smart enough not to get killed or hurt. Hannibal took her because he wanted him as a friend, and if Will was going to give the cannibal what he wanted then this would encourage him to go on this way, and keep her alive. He went back home, it would be useless to come back to Lecter now; he had to wait a little. At least their encounter showed to the Ripper that Will wanted Beverly back, and would do anything for that. He would come back tomorrow. For now he would take care of the dogs and get some rest.

Jack didn’t call him at all the next day, probably to give him some time to rest. Will strangely felt the need to shower, he had the impression to have the dirt of the prison he was in on the skin. Was Beverly feeling the same right now? He would also have to do something for his hair and beard; he looked like a mess, almost like some kind of wilding. Both Bev and he preferred to keep its neat. He decided to fix that, not really because appearances mattered so much, but because he wanted to look again like the man he was before his life was taken away, not like the prisoner Hannibal made out of him. He knew he was still prisoner somehow, but it would be easier not to look like one. When he was neat again, he was satisfied to see he looked more like the old Will, even if he probably would never be that man again. He would see Lecter this evening but no gun this time. 

On his side, Hannibal was preparing the next step of his plan, Abigail at his side, helping. Gideon would be dead soon and they were preparing the proofs he would put at Chilton’s home.  As he predicted, Will had come, and he was furious. He had been surprised at the gun, though he should have thought about it. For a moment, he actually feared that the profiler would really kill him, but his determination to find Beverly had been stronger. He had to admit that even if it had been dangerous, he didn’t regret this confrontation. Will’s tormented and angry look was inspiring and beautiful, this fire in him was making Lecter feel alive as well. It was the reason why he let slip a clue about Beverly being alive, it wasn’t out of fear, but to fuel the fire.  

He had told Abigail about that, she had been scared for Hannibal at first, but he assured her that Will had understood.

“He knows physical violence won’t get him anywhere.”

“Shouldn’t you tell him that she is alive, without telling him where she is?”

“I’d rather keep it that way. Imagine if he records a conversation, I have to keep everything I say in disguise.”

“Oh, I didn’t think about that.”

“You’re learning, it’s normal, but remember that any false step could cost us everything we are building. I have an appointment with Jack and Miriam Lass tomorrow morning. Right after that, I’ll put everything in Chilton’s house.”

“Why do you have an appointment with her?”

“Jack wants me to help her remember.”

“You surely will,” Abigail said with a malicious smile.

Hannibal smiled in return.

“You’ll have another mission soon enough. Beverly guessed there is someone else with me. She doesn’t know it’s you but she guessed. I think you two should meet you soon. I count on you to make her feel at ease here.”

“I will! She must be bored. Will I be allowed to tell her the time?”

“We’ll see that.”

Once their tasks were over, Hannibal was tempted between paying Beverly a visit and just playing some piano. He decided he would just give her a meal, and then he would come up with Abigail upstairs. The young girl was reading a book about poisons. He had been clear with her that she couldn’t neglect her education, and she was reading a lot, wit time she had developed an interest for poisons and drugs. A weapon that was typical among female murderers. This suited her, it was a subtle and delicate way to approach someone, it could be also incredibly useful. She had watched with interest each time he prepared Beverly’s injections. So after giving a sleeping Beverly her supper, he left and just spent privileged time with his daughter.  All that was missing was Will. But soon, soon...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will is finally free! But not so much...We'll see how it plays out for Beverly next. Review please!


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